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What Should Investors In Conservation Syndications Do When DOJ Seeks Injunction?

Last month, I wrote about the Department of Justice beginning to crack down on abusive conservation easement syndications. DOJ is seeking an injunction against people associated with EcoVest Capital, which according to Peter Elkind of Fortune is the most prolific syndicator of conservation easements. I explained the concept behind conservation easement deductions in that piece last month (and other coverage over the last several years). Here we are going to discuss them from the point of view of investors, which greatly simplifies things. To an investor, the program is something of a black box. The Black Box An investor (Let's go with Terry for a name) in an EcoVest deal pays them some money. Before Form 1040 for that year is due, Terry will get a K-1 showing a charitable contribution that is a multiple of the amount invested (probably between four or five times). So Terry will get back more than the investment in tax savings. That, of course, is the essence of the deal as far as Terry is concerned. In a few years, the property as encumbered by the easement is sold by the partnership. Terry will then get some of the original investment back. Terry needs to make sure the return preparer includes all required disclosures. But now Terry has heard that DOJ is calling the deals all sorts of nasty names. They literally refer to the persons named having "ill-gotten gains". Terry put $20,000 into a 2017 deal and $20,000 into a 2018 deal. Tax savings federal and state were $30,000 in 2017 and are projected about the same for 2018. I was actually asked that question. Not by anybody who has ever been my client, just to be clear. Worst case, as far as I can figure, Terry might have to give back the $30,000 in savings from 2017 along with a 40% penalty. In principle, Terry might avoid the penalty by filing an amended return (or returns if there were state savings) which leaves the question of what to do about 2018. What To Do About Return Not Yet Filed The 2018 question is a lot easier to answer. Terry should ask for the $20,000 back from EcoVest and consider supplementing the fourth quarter estimate, although that probably won't make much difference. I spoke with EcoVest investor relations and they made it clear that they won't just cut a check. Their point of view is that DOJ has arbitrarily struck demanding that five hard-working people, who are connected to EcoVest one way or another, are being asked to take up different work. Due to the government shutdown, they have not been able to respond. The EcoVest representative who only gave me his first name indicated that a statement has been sent out to the twenty or so broker-dealers that they use. I haven't gotten my hands on a copy of that yet. If Terry has the stomach for this sort of thing there could be complaints to various regulatory bodies which might encourage EcoVest to reconsider. I think the stakes are too low to engage a lawyer. Assuming the refund exercise is fruitless, Terry should plan on going on extension. EcoVest has indicated that the K-1s will be issued. But even if they are issued, my inclination would be to extend based on the assumption that the tax savings will not be available and see what develops. My partner often chides me about procrastinating. She is usually right. I've yet to see the dirty dishes spontaneously clean themselves, but I can keep hoping. Here, though, procrastination is the right answer. I don't give audit lottery advice, but this circumstance is different. I really don't think that Terry should amend the 2017 return and give back the tax savings. When you get a K-1, you are supposed to put on your return what the K-1 shows. What Terry should do is verify that the correct disclosures were included with the 2017 return and, if not, possibly amend for that. I really think that engaging a tax attorney is premature. You don't know for sure that your deal is going to be attacked and what the actual outcome will be. If you have the means (and you should if you were a qualified investor), plan to have your tax saving plus 40% or so liquid in a couple of years. Kiss it goodbye mentally now, which will cut your stress a lot. If it develops, as is not that unlikely, that you get to keep it, I think you should donate it to a legitimate conservation organization as a kind of penance for having profited from these shenanigans, but that is just me moralizing. My Sympathies In EcoVest vs DOJ, I am rooting for DOJ. Syndication of conservations easement charitable deductions is a travesty. It doesn't even make good nonsense. The investors are a different story. From what I can gather, somebody told them that these deals are legitimate and there is a sense in which that is true. So they have some sympathy from me. As Learned Hand wrote: Over and over again courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging one's affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everybody does so, rich or poor; and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands: taxes are enforced exactions, not voluntary contributions. To demand more in the name of morals is mere cant. Future investors get less sympathy. IRS Notice 2017-10 indicates the syndicated conservation easements are listed transactions. Reilly's Fourteenth Law of Tax Planning - If something is a listed transaction, just don't do it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterjreilly/2019/01/21/what-should-investors-in-conservation-syndications-do-when-doj-seeks-injunction/

Why Didn't Apple Use Qualcomm's Modems In 2018 iPhones?

Like I said last week in my article entitled If The FTC Case Against Qualcomm Seems Like a Clown Show Right Now, It's Because It Started That Way, if you havent been following the FTC versus Qualcomm case and are in the tech industry, you probably should. Whats likely at stake are future inventors rights to monetize their inventions, the U.S. government becoming an IP price fixer, U.S. 5G competitiveness, and competitiveness in related industries like self-driving cars and smart cities and potentially even national security. One of the things that caught my eye last week was Apple COO Jeff Williams FTC testimony that Qualcomm wouldnt sell it chips for its 2018 iPhones. This could be viewed as support for the FTCs no license-no chips accusation against Qualcomm and be damaging to Qualcomms defense. Williams testified that But in the end, they (Qualcomm) would not support us and sell us chips- I contacted Steve (Mollenkopf), I sent him emails, I called. We tried to get them to sell us chips and they would not. Three days ago, Bloombergs Ian King and Mark Gurman ran a piece from leaked emails in September 2017 between Apple and Qualcomm suggesting Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf did offer to sell Apple its wireless chips for use in 2018 iPhones. The article said that Apple wanted source code for the modems and Qualcomm wanted a commitment to 50% of the supply over two years. If accurate, this article would support what Qualcomm CEO Steve Mollenkopf testified to when asked, was there ever a time when Qualcomm withdrew from competing for business at Apple? and Mollenkopf answered, no. While I would have preferred to see the Qualcomm-Apple emails in testimony versus leaked emails, no one so far is questioning the email authenticity with me. Ill assume this wasnt part of FTC evidence because the FTC limited its investigation through 2016. I want to peel back the onion a bit and dig in on a few things. First off, this exchange seems like good, old fashioned negotiating. I spent over 20 years at hardware OEMs and chip companies, did a lot of negotiating from both sides, and this is what negotiation looks like. It appears Qualcomm wanted a volume commitment and Apple, based on Williams testimony, seemed prepared to offer it, given Williams earlier testimony on a desire to dual-source. Apple also appears to want the source code for the thin modem. I will assume that Apple wanted Qualcomms latest X20 LTE modem at the time and the X20 source code. What I dont understand is why Apple wouldnt just keep using the X16 modem, which lined up well right next to Intels XMM 7560 gigabit class modem from a feature and speed standpoint. Apple already had the source code for the X16 modem and continues to ship the X16 in older iPhone models today. In November 2017, Qualcomm asked a San Diego court to force Apple to provide a software audit on how Apple was using its source code. In September 2018, Qualcomm filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Apple for trade secret misappropriation. What is evident from this chain of events from September 2017 to September 2018 is that Qualcomm was worried Apple was going to misappropriate its X20 source code as Qualcomm believed it did with the X16. Apples stock response to these trade secret theft accusations was, "Qualcomm's illegal business practices are harming Apple and the entire industry. They supply us with a single connectivity component, but for years have been demanding a percentage of the total cost of our products - effectively taxing Apple's innovation." Even though Qualcomm had its fears over trade secret theft, according to the Bloomberg emails, the company was still prepared to sell it modems with a volume commitment. To the core of the FTCs suit against Qualcomm is that it wouldnt sell chips unless customers paid for licensing fees. If the emails referenced to in the Bloomberg article are accurate, then it looks like Qualcomm's Mollenkopf was prepared to sell its chips to Apple but Apple didnt like the terms. This all strikes me as negotiation, not anti-trust harm, particularly when Apple could have used the X16 modem with which it already had the source code and is still buying. This he said-she said are what courts are for, to piece through these things and as I have said, Im no lawyer and dont play one on TV. I hope to see a day that Apple and Qualcomm can resolve its differences and focus all on what consumers want- innovative products and great experiences, because Im getting sick of all this. Disclosure: Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided paid research, analysis, advising, or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry, including Advanced Micro Devices, Apstra, ARM Holdings, Bitfusion, Cisco Systems, Dell EMC, Diablo Technologies, Echelon, Ericcson, Frame, Gen Z Consortium, Glue Networks, GlobalFoundries, Google (Nest), HP Inc. HewlettPackard Enterprise, Huawei Technologies, IBM, Jabil Circuit, Intel, Interdigital, Konica Minolta, Lenovo, Linux Foundation, MACOM (Applied Micro), MapBox, Mavenir, Mesosphere, Microsoft, National Instruments, NOKIA (Alcatel Lucent), Nortek, NVIDIA, ONUG, OpenStack Foundation, Peraso, Portworx, Protequus, Pure Storage, Qualcomm, Rackspace, Rambus, Red Hat, Samsung Technologies, Silver Peak, SONY, Springpath, Sprint, Stratus Technologies, TensTorrent, Tobii Technology, Synaptics, Verizon Communications, Vidyo, Wellsmith, Xilinx, Zebra, which may be cited in this article.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2019/01/21/why-didnt-apple-use-qualcomms-modems-in-2018-iphones/

Will NFL adopt CFL policy for pass interference review after officiating error?

Toronto Argonauts defensive back Matt Black can see the winds of change blowing through the NFL after Sundays controversial finish to the NFC title game just like in the CFL in 2014. The Los Angeles Rams advanced to the Super Bowl with a 26-23 overtime win over the New Orleans Saints the first game of a wild semifinal Sunday that started a debate about rules that happen to be different in the CFL. Greg Zuerlein kicked the game-winning 57-yard field goal after forcing overtime with a 48-yard boot late in the fourth quarter thanks in large part to a blown call in the quarter. On third-and-10 inside the Rams 15-yard line, Saints quarterback Drew Brees threw a pass toward receiver Tommylee Lewis. But Rams cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman not only didnt turn his head to see the ball, but delivered a helmet-to-helmet hit on Lewis at about the five-yard line before it arrived. Amazingly, no flag was thrown. Had a penalty been called, New Orleans wouldve received a fresh set of downs and the chance to run the clock down and kick a short game-winning field goal. Wil Lutzs 31-yard field goal put the Saints ahead 23-20 but St. Louis got the ball at its 25-yard line with 1:41 remaining and drove for a tying field goal. Saints head coach Sean Payton was incensed with the non-call, but could do nothing about it. Had this happened in a CFL game, Payton wouldve had an opportunity to challenge the play. CFL teams can make one challenge per game so long as they have at least one timeout. If the challenge is unsuccessful, a timeout is charged. But a team keeps the timeout if the challenge is successful. Regardless of the outcome, no other challenges can be made. So under CFL rules, Payton wouldve still had to have his challenge and at least one timeout to have the play reviewed. On Sunday, the CFL drew praise from ESPN, which also suggested it was time for the NFL to expand its replay rules. And the Edmonton Eskimos tweeted: If anything has been learned today, it is that the @CFL rules are @NFL rules and that theres less of a chance of seeing the same teams in the championship. Black, entering his 11th CFL season with the Argos, expects the NFL to look hard at making pass interference a reviewable offence. I think this will spur change in the NFL, said Black, a two-time Grey Cup champion. I think youll see the review of this because of that play. But Id want it to go both ways. If theres offensive pass interference then you can challenge it and if theres defensive pass interference then you could do that too. In 2014, the CFL became the first football league to make pass interference reviewable. That came after Hamilton defensive back Evan McCollough wasnt called for contacting Montreal receiver Duron Carter in the end zone late in the Tiger-Cats 19-16 overtime win in the 13 East Division semifinal. Instead of getting the ball at the Hamilton one-yard line, Montreal had to settle for a game-tying field goal. Coaches initially had two challenges but that number was reduced to one in 2017. In the 2015 Grey Cup, a successful challenge by head coach Chris Jones helped Edmonton beat Ottawa 26-20 in Winnipeg. Jones challenged an incompletion that was changed to pass interference and put the Esks on the Redblacks 10-yard line. That set up Jordan Lynchs one-yard TD run with 3:22 remaining and Mike Reillys completion to Akeem Shavers for the two-point convert to erase a 20-18 deficit. Glen Johnson, the former CFL official who later served as the leagues director of officiating, said there was no doubt Robey-Coleman interfered with Lewis. I did (expect a flag to be thrown). Johnson said. Absolutely (it was pass interference) and I say that with all empathy for the official because people just dont know until theyre out there just how hard it is. As an official, way back I went from not liking (replay) to feeling it was a really good tool to help us. And when I went into management I went, This is absolutely mandatory to protect the integrity of the game. The AFC championship game wasnt immune from criticism, either, and it too revolved around a rule unique to the NFL. The New England Patriots, after winning the coin toss for overtime, marched 80 yards on 15 plays capped by Rex Burkheads two-yard TD run to beat the Kansas City Chiefs 37-31. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who threw for 295 yards and three TDs in regulation, never touched the field in the extra session. In the CFL, both teams get the ball in overtime. In the NFL, a touchdown ends the game. That prompted Calgary Stampeders punter Rob Maver to tweet: I say this as an objective viewer: the NFLs overtime rules are complete and utter garbage. But Nik Lewis, the CFLs all-time receptions leader (1,051) now in his first season as the B.C. Lions running backs coach, likes the NFLs overtime policy during the regular season, But he thinks both teams should get the ball in the playoffs. Its a battle to earn the right to go to the next stage, he said. Really, the coin toss decides the game. Black supports the NFLs OT format. If you drive 80 yards and score a touchdown, tell me why the New England Patriots dont deserve to go to the Super Bowl, he said. If New England had to kick a field goal, Mahomes gets the ball back and the Chiefs get an opportunity to march down the field. If they score a TD, were sitting here talking about how amazing a 23-year-old kid is whos taking his team to the Super Bowl. I dont think there has ever been or will ever be another combination like Tom Brady and (Pats coach) Bill Belichick. However, it was the non-call in the NFC contest that drew the most attention. Like Black, Johnson believes the incident will move the NFL closer to allowing coaches to challenge pass interference. I hope it does, he said. I hope it serves as good dialogue for the rules committee. But Johnson believes the CFLs challenge system could be tweaked. The hardest part in figuring all of this out is you want a system, method or approach you can get to that leaves you that challenge for that moment, Johnson said. Had we not had two (challenges) in the 15 Grey Cup, they might not have had that other challenge to use late in the game to fix that PI. I think fundamentally there has to be a system to use replay to get egregious calls fixed. The officials want it, the fans want it, the coaches want it. Everybody wants it. Lewis, though, doesnt see it that way. The reason is its never consistent, theyre judgment calls, said Lewis. Theres not a consistent rule on pass interference so I think its very hard to decide which is interference and which isnt. But theres no doubt that play was pass interference. Still, Lewis said the Saints couldve made the play moot by scoring TDs in a dominant first half rather than settling for field goals. As a player or coach, you know theres going to be calls for and against you that are borderline, he said. So you dont want to put yourself in that situation (where game is decided by officials call). Jim Daley, a former head coach with Winnipeg and Saskatchewan, said with CFL coaches having just one challenge, a viable option could be having the replay official buzzing the game official when theres an obvious miss. It was a huge mistake, an obvious mistake and (NFL) has already admitted that, he said. In the CFL if youve already used your challenge, youre not challenging that play anyway. I just think there might be a process where a review official whos away from the heat of the game but sees the whole picture can somehow reach the game official and review it.

https://nationalpost.com/pmn/sports-pmn/football-sports-pmn/will-nfl-adopt-cfl-policy-for-pass-interference-review-after-officiating-error

What prop betting lines are available for Super Bowl LIII?

CLOSE Two weeks before the biggest game in football descends on Atlanta, officials say they are doing everything to ensure it's a success. (Jan. 15) AP Super Bowl Sunday means heavily scripted commercials, a star-studded halftime show and a football game (by the way, the Patriots are favored by 1 1/2 points over the Rams as of Jan. 21 per Bovada). It also means lots of wagering on different bets. Here's a look at some of the betting lines that Bovada is presenting days before the start of Super Bowl LIII. YES -110 NO -130 CLOSE Jarrett Bell and Mike Jones from New Orleans and Kansas City on how the Rams and Patriots pulled off their impressive wins to head to the Super Bowl. YES +900 NO -3500 CLOSE SportsPulse: This will likely go down as the worst officiated championship weekend ever. But if you are a fan of chaos and pure insane entertainment it was incredible. Trysta Krick breaks down how the Patriots and Rams punched their ticket to the Super Bowl. Coke or variants -170 Pepsi or variants +130 SUPER BOWL LIII: TV, schedule, kick off time, streaming for Patriots-Rams

https://www.tennessean.com/story/sports/nfl/2019/01/21/super-bowl-2019-prop-bets-mvp-odds-national-anthem-commercials/2637355002/

Can Corning Sustain Its Momentum in the Fourth Quarter?

Corning Incorporated (NYSE: GLW) is slated to announce fourth-quarter 2018 results on Tuesday, January 29, 2019. Shares of the glass technologist are down modestly from its exceptional third-quarter report in October as of this writing -- albeit primarily driven by the broader market's decline since then. To be clear, last quarter Corning demonstrated accelerating growth and expanding margins as its investments in innovation and manufacturing capacity began to yield fruit. And if management's commentary is any indication, shareholders should expect to see more of the same next week. Before Corning's Q4 results hit the wires, then, let's have a look at what investors should be watching. Multiple panes of Corning glass. More IMAGE SOURCE: CORNING. A "step change" in profitability Three months ago, Corning Chairman and CEO Wendell Weeks boasted that Q3 marked a "step change in our earnings power," particularly as Corning leveraged its "recent phase of intense operating and capital investments to capture substantial benefits." Remember, Corning is in the home stretch of its four-year Strategic and Capital Allocation Framework announced in late 2015. Under that framework as of the end of last quarter, the company had already returned $11.4 billion (of a $12.5 billion goal) to shareholders through dividends and repurchases, and remained on track to invest $10 billion back into the business to solidify its industry leadership and capture future growth. Next week, the market will expect the company to confirm it has continued to make notable progress toward those goals, as per usual. But shareholders should also listen closely for any updates regarding Corning's targets for the duration of this year, as well as potential plans to extend its framework at the end of 2019. As for this quarter's headline numbers, Corning's latest guidance calls for full-year 2018 sales to "exceed $11.3 billion." Based on its sales of $8.255 billion through the first nine months of the year, that means the fourth quarter should arrive (conservatively) at around $3.05 billion. Meanwhile, Corning does not provide specific consolidated bottom-line guidance. So for perspective, and though we usually don't lend much credence to Wall Street's expectations, most analysts will be looking for Corning's core earnings to increase roughly 14% to $0.57 per share. Breaking it down Corning did offer some broad expectations in October for each of its five primary segments to end the year. At optical communications, its single largest business, fourth-quarter sales should climb in the low-single-digit percent range sequentially, from $1.117 billion last quarter, helped by large ongoing projects from multiple carrier and data center customers. All told, that should mean optical achieves slightly higher year-over-year growth than the 9% increase we saw in Q3. Next, Corning's display technologies segment should benefit from ever-larger television screen sizes. Coupled with the recent ramp of Corning's Gen 10.5 LCD glass substrate facility in China, display technologies should see volume growth slightly above the low-single-digit sequential increase expected from the broader display glass market. At the same time, its revenue and earnings benefit for this segment will be held back by continued annual display glass price declines -- though it's worth noting Corning has done an admirable job moderating those declines in recent years.

https://news.yahoo.com/corning-sustain-momentum-fourth-quarter-004000592.html

Should We Debunk Junk Science Or Not?

Junk science is everywhere, and it takes many pernicious forms. There are the outright scams, of course, advertised by charlatans aiming to make a quick and easy buck. There are the malicious actors, trying to spread falsehoods and misinformation to score political or economic points instead of promoting honest scientific debate. And there are the lazy and flawed scientists themselves, trumpeting poorly-done, low-quality, and even outright sketchy work in a bid to get some media and public attention on themselves. All of these manifestations have a common theme: they take the name of science and apply it to something that definitely does not adhere to any reasonable definition of the word or bear even the slightest resemblance to the proper practice of the discipline. It obviously needs to be addressed and confronted, lest the problem grow out of control (if it isn't already out of control) and regain some semblance of legitimate scientific identity in the hearts and minds of the general public. It's here, in the how rather than the why of combatting junk science, that two schools of thought emerge: Method 1: Debunk, Full Blast There is bad, junky science, promoted by bad, junky people. They must be defeated. We must take their claims at face value and tear into them, exposing them for the frauds and deceits that they are. The goal of such a debate wouldn't be to change the mind of our opponent - they likely aren't interested in having their mind changed anyway. But people can watch and listen to that debate. Maybe some of those people have an opinion on the subject, but not a strong one, and can be swayed with logic and reason. Most people probably haven't even thought about the issue at all, and this would be a golden opportunity to plant the right kind of seed at exactly the right time. Failing the opportunity for a debate, we can at least provide resources. Videos, articles, podcasts, the works. Bring up dubious claims and bear the full weight of the evidence against them. Highlight examples of bad science so that people know what to look for in the future. Method 2: Avoid, At All Costs But even the mention of junk science gives their proponents credibility. After all, scientists debate each other all the time in open forums. Thus if a scientist is debating someone else, they must hold them as a peer, even a colleague. By giving them the air of legitimacy, we aren't helping ourselves, but them. Even if the debate is "lost" (whatever that means), they can then turn around to their followers and rightly claim that they went toe-to-toe with other scientists. Junk scientists aren't playing by the same rules. Instead, it's best to avoid open confrontation. Instead, explain what science is and how science works, and let it be. Have confidence that the right information will get to the right people and let natural forces do their work. It's best not to...sully our hands, so to speak. Method 3: All of the Above Both approaches have merit. Both schools of thought make very valid points. Both techniques are right in their own ways and wrong in their own ways. In the end, we need to give people tools to decide between junk and valid science on their own. And since "people" is really a collection of billions of individuals, we can't make universal assumptions and apply universal techniques and hope it all works out in the end. The struggle against junk science is much more personal than that; it can only be won through a single human being at a time.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/paulmsutter/2019/01/21/should-we-debunk-junk-science-or-not/

Have His Cake and Eat It Too?

Bill Clinton has been pretty good to President Bush about the War on Terror and the war in Iraq up until now. In July of '03 right after the invasion Clinton went on TV and said, "Hey, all you guys ticked at Bush, just remember we all knew we'd have to do something about Saddam someday." That was good. It was actually brave because the Democrats were busy formulating the "Bush lied" lie which is now accepted on the blue side of things as absolute, unquestionable truth, when in fact it is the biggest cowpie I've ever stepped in. But now Clinton has gone off the deep end. Here's what he said to a group of students one presumes Arab students at the American University in Dubai: "Saddam is gone. It's a good thing." I interrupt his statement here because this is where he should have stopped. But he didn't. He went on. "But I don't agree with what was done," Clinton said. "It was a big mistake. The American government made several errors, one of which is how easy it would be to get rid of Saddam and how hard it would be to unite the country." Now there is a certain truth in the latter part of the statement. It's obviously been easier to knock Saddam off than unite the country. But uttering the words "it was a big mistake" in an Arab country, in front of an Arab audience, can mean only one thing: The ex-president thinks we shouldn't have gone into Iraq. But he just said Saddam is gone and that's good. Clinton had eight years to get rid of Saddam without a war. It didn't work. It would never have worked. Saddam was busy buying off the U.N. and France. He was busy killing his opponents and CIA spies. He was busy convincing his neighbors and the rest of the world that he had WMDs, because if they thought he didn't the U.S. wouldn't have had time to invade. Iran would have done it first. Clinton has defined the Democrat position on Saddam: We are glad he's gone, now let's stone the guy who ran him out. The beauty of this is that they say it with a straight face. That's My Word. Watch John Gibson weekdays at 5 p.m. ET on "The Big Story" and send your comments to: myword@foxnews.com Read Your Word

https://www.foxnews.com/story/have-his-cake-and-eat-it-too

Did J.R. Smith call Marcus Smart a "bum" for DeAndre' Bembry incident?

originally appeared on nbcsportsboston.com J.R. Smith appeared to call out one of two players Saturday night on Instagram. Scroll to continue with content Ad We think we have a pretty good guess. After ESPN's "SportsCenter" Instagram account posted a video of Marcus Smart charging at DeAndre' Bembry during Saturday night's Boston Celtics-Atlanta Hawks game, the former Cleveland Cavaliers guard chimed in by writing "such a bum" in the comment section. JR Smith's not a fan of Marcus Smart. pic.twitter.com/SNTxMLeCgv Josh Poloha (@JorshP) January 20, 2019 Technically, Smith's "bum" jab could be directed at Smart or Bembry. But Smith and Smart have serious history. A quick recap: During the 2018 NBA playoffs, Smart confronted Smith after the Cavs guard pushed Al Horford while he was in the air attempting to catch an alley-oop. When Boston and Cleveland met this preseason, Smart and Smith scuffled again, and their beef continued off the court with some nasty postgame remarks and tweets. So, it's safe to say Smith's comments aren't directed at Bembry. Smart has bigger problems to worry about, though: His Celtics will aim for their fourth consecutive win Monday, while Smith has stepped away from the Cavs while seeking a trade. Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.

https://sports.yahoo.com/did-j-r-smith-call-045817780.html?src=rss

Could a Tsunami Happen Here?

Alaska (search) has been hit by massive earthquakes in the past, and is still at risk. So is Washington state. Both are bordered by 700- to 800-mile fault zones. So the U.S. has installed an early-warning system that reads the speed and direction of tsunamis which are generally undetectable until they hit the shore because wave energy travels very deep and at near-supersonic speed underwater. "We live in an area similar, and we should not lull ourselves into thinking it could not happen to us," said Eddie Bernard of Pacific Marine Laboratory (search) in Anchorage. "It could happen to us." Click in the box near the top of the story to watch a report by FOX News' William LaJeunesse.

https://www.foxnews.com/story/could-a-tsunami-happen-here

Is Green Plains a Buy?

After a rough 2017 investors might have been hoping that things couldn't get worse for ethanol producers. Then 2018 happened. Last year, ethanol prices averaged their lowest selling prices since 2002 -- years before the United States started blending the renewable fuel into its gasoline supply. That spoiled the operations of Green Plains (NASDAQ: GPRE). While it began 2018 as the nation's third-largest ethanol manufacturer, it exited the year a peg or two lower. Management sold noncore assets and 20% of the company's ethanol production fleet, then used the proceeds to retire $495 million in long-term debt. The move should save enough in interest expense to tip the business into profitability, but there are still some questions that won't be answered until year-end results are announced. Let's dig into the details. A man staring at a chalk board with money bags and question marks drawn on it. More Image source: Getty Images. By the numbers Green Plains generates revenue and income from multiple products and services supporting ethanol production. The business also creates animal feed products (primarily byproducts of the overall ethanol production process), sells meat from its cattle feedlot business (one of the largest in the United States with 355,000 head of cattle), and generates income from an ownership stake in Green Plains Partners (a storage and transportation partnership supporting the parent). Vertical integration has become a necessity for improving the margin structure of ethanol production. That was especially true last year. In the first nine months of 2018 the company's ethanol segment reported an operating loss of $60.7 million, compared to an operating loss of $26 million the year before. High-margin products and services in the animal feed, food ingredients, and partnership segments allowed Green Plains to post an overall operating profit -- barely. Metric First Nine Months 2018 First Nine Months 2017 Year-Over-Year Change Revenue $3.03 billion $2.67 billion 13% Operating expenses $3.02 billion $2.64 billion 14% Operating income $8.4 million $34.3 million (75%) Net income ($23.1 million) $29.4 million N/A Operating cash flow less inventory change $31.1 million $54.6 million (43%) Data source: SEC filing. Of course, the slimmed-down business will look a bit different in 2019. Late last year, Green Plains sold off its high-margin vinegar business, which, alongside the cattle feedlot business, helped to generate $34 million in operating income for the food ingredients segment through the first nine months of 2018. Losing that high-margin income will hurt, but the company will save more in interest expense from paying off its term loans. Shedding 20% of its ethanol production will also help to shrink losses in the core segment. The biggest improvements might arrive on the balance sheet. Here's how management last communicated the changes, with the pro forma results indicating the impact from recent transactions: Metric Sept. 30, 2018 (Pro Forma) Sept. 30, 2018 (Actual) Total long-term debt $337.8 million* $832.8 million Net debt ($46.9 million) $598.3 million Shareholders' equity $1.06 billion $898.9 million Book value per share $25.61 $21.70 Net debt to EBITDA 2.5x 6.3x *NOTE: Comprising convertible debt and a revolving credit facility. Data source: Investor presentation. Overall investors have to like the improvements in the table above, but investors will want to make sure these asset sales don't result in sharply lower EBITDA -- therefore hiking up leverage ratios -- going forward. Despite the overnight improvements on the balance sheet, Wall Street hasn't changed its pessimistic outlook for the business. Perhaps analysts are waiting for clearer signals from management on what to expect in the near term, but they haven't updated their earnings expectations for the next 12 months. That much is obvious from a side-by-side comparison between Green Plains and its closest publicly traded ethanol-producing peers Archer Daniels Midland (NYSE: ADM) and Valero (NYSE: VLO), notably in the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratios.

https://news.yahoo.com/green-plains-buy-034800922.html

Did Ciara, Russell Wilson respond to Future saying the NFL pro is 'not being a man'?

CLOSE Ciara shared a photoshoot she recently did for Harper's Bazaar that has people wondering what Russell Wilson is doing. Keri Lumm (@thekerilumm) reports. Buzz60 Ciara and husband Russell Wilson seem to be taking the high road. The couple posted Instagram messages that seem directed at her ex, Future, who dissed their relationship Thursday, slamming Wilson for "not being a man" in his marriage to the "Level Up" singer. "Rise Above," Ciara said alongside a photo of herself in a pink and black plaid shirt and sky-high black boots. NFL star Wilson stuck with family, posting, "All that matters. #Love" along with a super-sweet photo of Ciara and Future's 4-year-old son, Future Zahir, kissing his little sister, 1-year-old Sienna, Ciara's daughter with Wilson. Celebrity power couple: Ciara and Russell Wilson's love story The couple haven't publicly discussed Future's appearance on Apple Musics Beats 1 Radio on Thursday. He do exactly what she tell him to do. He not being a man in that position, the rapper, 35, said. You not tellin her, Bro, chill out with that on the internet. Dont even talk to him. Im your husband! You better not even bring Futures name up! He continued, "If that was me, she couldn't even bring his name up. She know that. She couldn't even bring her exes' names up." Ciara and Future were engaged in 2013, but broke off their relationship three months after Future Zahir was born. The singer and Wilson married in 2016. USA TODAY has reached out to Ciara's and Wilson's representatives for comment. Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2019/01/22/ciara-russell-wilson-future/2641749002/

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/people/2019/01/22/ciara-russell-wilson-future/2641749002/

How hard will adding replay for pass interference be?

A year ago around this time, when the NFL was still wobbling from its time in the political shredder, the idea that the league would dare entertain extending the time of game just to review certain judgment calls on top of the current replay slate seemed ludicrous. A vocal minority of fans were convinced that the game was too choppy. Too soft. Too long. Too bogged down by a rulebook where even the most basic questionswhat is a catch?could not be answered without a mountain of legalese. It wasnt football anymore. How times change. The NFL came roaring back in 2018 and reestablished itself atop the American sports hierarchy. As Michael David Smith of Pro Football Talk noted Monday, the AFC championship game just about tripled the most watched World Series and NBA finals games of 2018. Assuming the Super Bowl keeps us fat and happy offensively, there should be plenty of momentum to pacify those on the competition committee who want to review pass interference calls. Reviewing pass interference is a thing we say we dont want until something like Sundays Saints-Rams game happens. While I think theres some interesting revisionist history already being applied to the callmaking it seem like the sole reason the Saints are not in the Super Bowl and that the Rams werent also the victim of some fairly egregious no callsit was significant and horrifying enough to warrant immediate action. And really, this shouldnt take more than a long lunch at the owners meetings to hammer out. It wouldnt even change the game all that much. Make it reviewable, as CBS suggested, only under two minutes and keep the challenge system the way it is. Or, allow coaches to challenge, during the game but keep a minute running clock on the central replay crew, making it so the judgment calls could only be overturned if it was outrageous enough to come across as such to Alberto Riveron in a short period of time. This season confirmed that fans will stick with a good product even if theres an encyclopedic rulebook that can sometimes get in the way of good competition. So, if youre going to have all the rules, make sure theres enough of them on the books to cover your behind in any situation. Sign up for The MMQBs Morning Huddle. HOT READS NOW ON THE MMQB: Albert Breer covers the nightmare day for officials in his Monday column . . . Andy Benoit on how Bill Belichick might try to slow the Rams . . . Jenny Vrentas on the Patriots making the remarkable seem routine . . . and more. WHAT YOU MAY HAVE MISSED: Greg Bishop and Ben Baskin on the early years of the Robert Kraft Patriots . . . Kalyn Kahler with the latest NFL Draft Big Board . . . Tim Rohan on the incredible athletic feats of Young Andy Reid . . . and more. PRESS COVERAGE 1. Andy Reid took some issues with the officiating too, though I doubt hell be able to control that narrative. 2. 3. The Patriots are putting on a unified front ahead of the Super Bowl. 4. Shoot yeah, his agent says. 5. 6. Alex Smith was seen out at a Wizards game. Let the team know at talkback@themmqb.com

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/22/how-hard-will-it-be-install-replay-pass-interference

Why Is Uranus The Only Planet Without Interesting Features On It?

The eight major planets of the Solar System all possess their own unique features. The rocky planets have craters, ridges, mountains and more: evidence of a violent past and interior activity. All the planets except Mercury have atmospheres, where volatile materials form clouds and hazes. On the gas giant worlds, banded structures, storms, and turbulent streams are commonly seen. Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune all display spectacular changes over time whenever we've examined their atmospheres in detail. But not Uranus. Alone among all the planets in the Solar System, Uranus is a light, blue-colored, otherwise featureless world. Even when it was visited up close by the Voyager 2 spacecraft, the most remarkable part of the story was how unremarkable Uranus appeared. To the human eye, Uranus is the only planet without interesting features on it. Here's the scientific story of why. Uranus, as seen from Earth, is just a tiny turquoise disc. Voyager 2, which had previously revealed unprecedented details of storms and bands on Jupiter and Saturn, saw a large, featureless, turquoise globe when it came to Uranus. Even by turning up the image contrast as high as possible, there was practically nothing to see. Uranus appeared to be, quite disappointingly, the most boring planet we could have imagined. Initially, we thought we understood why it was such a featureless world. With such a small size relative to Saturn or Jupiter, it was conjectured that Uranus wasn't able to generate any of its own internal heat, and was therefore only at the temperature you'd expect if it were heated by the Sun. It was blue and featureless because it was cold, distant, and didn't produce its own heat. Its upper atmosphere was a constant 58 K. And that seemed to be the entire story. Of course, that isn't the case at all! Sure, it is cold and distant, and doesn't generate very much internal heat; that part is true. But Uranus is unique among all the worlds in the Solar System for a special property it possesses: its rotation. Unlike all the other worlds, which rotate at some tilt relative to the plane of the Sun's rotation, Uranus is practically on its side, rolling like a barrel instead of spinning like a top. When the Voyager 2 spacecraft flew past Uranus in 1986, it was solstice: the side illuminated by the Sun was one of Uranus' polar regions. But as the years and decades ticked by, Uranus moved from solstice towards equinox, when its equatorial region would be illuminated by the Sun instead. Instead of a constant influx of sunlight on one hemisphere, lasting years, there was a rapid day/night shift, coincident with Uranus' rotational period of about 17 hours. Since Uranus takes 84 Earth-years to complete a revolution around the Sun, that means it takes 21 Earth-years to go from solstice to equinox. With Voyager 2 flying by it at solstice in 1986, that implied the best time to view it next would be in 2007, when it was at equinox. We didn't have another mission ready to go at that time, but we did have the Hubble Space Telescope. As you can see, above, there are all the features you would have hoped for the first time. There are swirling clouds, storms, and even characteristic atmospheric bands. There are dark spots and light spots, hazes and clear regions, with differential colors at different Uranian latitudes. Instead of a monochrome, featureless world, we at last found the active atmosphere we had expected all along. The reason for Uranus' uniform color during the solstice is because of its temperatures when it's in continuous day, which produces a haze of methane. Methane, in this state of matter, absorbs red light, which is why the reflected sunlight takes on that turquoise hue. Simultaneously, the methane haze masks the clouds below it, which is what causes Uranus to have the featureless appearance we came to know ubiquitously after the Voyager 2 visit. With its 97.7 degree axial tilt, a solstice Uranus will appear to be a boring Uranus. But that methane haze, so prevalent in the upper atmosphere of Uranus, only represents the top 1% of the atmosphere. Observing in bands other than visible light will reveal even more of its non-uniform properties. Because an equinox-like Uranus will cool off during the night, the methane haze goes from being a top-layer aerosol which is a solid or liquid particle suspended in a gas to particles that mix with the lower atmospheric layers. Thus, when day emerges again, the uppermost layer is partially transparent. And what we've found, when that occurs, is that there are observable changes in the upper atmosphere, which holds clues to the 99% of the unseen atmosphere beneath it. There are storms that are present even in the old Voyager 2 information, visible only by stacking over 1,000 images together and looking for variations between frames. According to astronomer Erich Karkoschka, who did this work back in 2014: Some of these features probably are convective clouds caused by updraft and condensation. Some of the brighter features look like clouds that extend over hundreds of kilometers. [...] The unusual rotation of high southern latitudes of Uranus is probably due to an unusual feature in the interior of Uranus. While the nature of the feature and its interaction with the atmosphere are not yet known, the fact that I found this unusual rotation offers new possibilities to learn about the interior of a giant planet. By looking in wavelengths of light beyond what the human eye can see, such as the infrared, we can construct enhanced-color images. As you'd expect, when Uranus is near equinox, these reveal a slew of features that are invisible to the human eye, including: bands of atmospheric structure, hemispheric differences between the sun-facing and space-facing poles, storms and clouds present in the upper atmosphere, and even a faint ring system that likely results from shattered or tidally-disrupted moons. There are also storms that are visible only in the infrared that intensify and subside. Contrary to our initial observations, Uranus is a feature-rich world, but only if you look at it in the right ways. There are still plenty of mysteries to solve about the second-most-distant planet in the Solar System. Uranus has an oddly tilted but strong magnetic field, about 50 times the strength of Earth's, which rotates like a corkscrew around the planet. The dual presence of carbon and hydrogen suggests that, in the lower layers of the atmosphere, the pressure causes a rain of diamonds to fall. Uranus displays a uniform temperature during solstice, but severe temperature differences across its surface during equinoxes, suggesting that something inherent to it is causing a lag between temperatures and the seasons. And the storms we see, also driven by the seasons, are suggestive of a vortex deeper down in the atmosphere, farther past what we can see. Uranus, to many, is still the most boring planet, and I suppose that's true if you're willing to add a caveat: sometimes. When Uranus is at solstice, it truly is the most boring, featureless world you can find among our eight planets. But the lack of an internal heat source and the fact that it rotates on a tipped-over axis also gives us a unique opportunity to learn how a gas giant planet behaves when its energy balance is driven by the Sun. Uranus, once thought to be a featureless world, turns out to be incredibly rich and diverse. This turquoise world holds a number of mysteries that are suggestive of a complex, internal structure beneath the easily-observable upper atmosphere. So long as there's an energy difference, either between the polar hemispheres or between the day-and-night sides, there will surely be interesting phenomena to investigate. The case for a dedicated mission to Uranus has never been stronger.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2019/01/22/why-is-uranus-the-only-planet-without-interesting-features-on-it/

Why no love for romcoms?

Serenity, opening Friday, finds Matthew McConaughey and Anne Hathaway on a tropical isle where life drifts along in a hazy breeze of booze and sex. Yet this quirky thriller hardly pairs the Interstellar co-stars romantically. She hopes he will murder her sadistic billionaire husband. Its a far cry and years away from when McConaugheys island adventures were such romantic comedies as Fools Gold or How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, both with Kate Hudson. Once romcoms were a Hollywood staple, with Nora Ephron and Nancy Meyers writing and directing Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson or Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Theyve gone the way of the dodo. Instead, its bromances that are flourishing, perhaps because theyre absent the complications of sex. Dwayne The Rock Johnson and Kevin Hart are now Hollywoods hottest team after Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle. They had previously struck box-office gold with 2016s Central Intelligence (A little Hart and a big Johnson teased the ad). Their Jumanji sequel opens in December. Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly are three movies into their partnership. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby in 2006 launched an inspired teaming, followed by Step Brothers (2008) and the Christmas misfire Holmes and Watson. Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn began with Starsky and Hutch in 2004, sparked in 2005s smash Wedding Crashers and wrapped it with The Internship (2013). Easily the reigning bromance kings are James Franco and Seth Rogen. Theyve never stopped collaborating since Freaks and Geeks in 1999. Consider: Knocked Up (2007), Pineapple Express (2008), This is the End (2013), The Interview (2014), Sausage Party (2016), The Disaster Artist (2017). Still to come: Zeroville, with Franco director and co-star. As to why were in the midst of a bromantic moment, There always seems to be a genre that is hot at the moment. When you look at the last five years, its been Will Ferrell, Dwayne Johnson or Kevin Hart. Jumanji surprised everyone by grossing over $700 million worldwide, said Wilson Morales of BlackFilm.com. Romantic comedies just arent clicking at the box-office. Crazy Rich Asians was more about the culture than the couple. The last successful pairing weve seen is a dramatic story, A Star Is Born, which is an example of star power.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2019/01/22/romcom/

How can I use two-step verification in a mobile blackspot?

I cant access calls or texts and want to start protecting my email account from hackers You have frequently advised readers to set up two-step verification to protect the security of their email system. Wed like to do this, but we live in a mobile blackspot, and cant access calls or texts at home. SD, Maidenhead, Berks You are absolutely right to set this up, and we would strongly urge other readers to follow your lead. Two-step verification protects against hacking as it requires the user to input a code every time they log into their email on a computer they havent used previously. Most email systems use the mobile phone networks to send the verification code by text. Only once you have entered it can you access your emails. It will halt most scammers from taking over your account. You only have to do this once on that computer but it may have to be updated every 30 days, if at all. For people like you who dont get a decent mobile service at home (or dont own a mobile), you can ask Google or the email provider to call your landline instead. You can typically add two mobile and landline numbers to the two-step process. A landline is arguably more secure. Alternatively, use a smartphone-based app which automatically generates a one-time passcode using an algorithm. The code changes every 30 seconds. Crucially, you dont need a mobile phone signal or to be online to receive the code. The Guardians tech gurus recommend using Google Authenticator, or Authy. One last thing to consider is upgrading your mobile to 4G. Living where you do, you should be able to get a mobile service. Buying a 4G phone could improve your service and mean you can make and receive calls at home. We welcome letters but cannot answer individually. Email us at consumer.champions@theguardian.com or write to Consumer Champions, Money, the Guardian, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Please include a daytime phone number. Submission and publication of all letters is subject to our terms and conditions

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/jan/22/two-step-verification-email-security-mobile

What are May's options for a plan B that could win over the Commons?

Theresa Mays plan B is to try to get her plan A through the Commons with some tweaks on the Irish backstop. Heres a quick guide to what MPs could vote for, based on dividing the Commons into various groupings, explained below. The numbers of those groups are roughly estimated using public records and voting histories, although these factions could easily splinter further in any of these scenarios. The groupings explained Tories for a second referendum 9 These are the Conservative MPs like Dominic Grieve, Sarah Wollaston, Anna Soubry, Phillip Lee, Sam Gyimah, Guto Bebb, Justine Greening and Jo Johnson who will back any moves for a second referendum and stopping no deal. Conservatives who will block no deal 12 These MPs are not in favour of a second referendum and mostly voted for Mays deal, but will put as many roadblocks as they can in the way of a no-deal Brexit. They include former minister Nick Boles, Nicky Morgan and Sir Oliver Letwin. Brexiters who oppose Mays deal 109 These are the Tory MPs who have voted against the prime ministers Brexit deal. Many are hard Brexiters who would be comfortable with no deal, but others are ex-remainers uncomfortable with the backstop. Should May manage to deliver a firm end date to the backstop, she could win back most of their votes. A minority would also like to see the backstop removed entirely and a reduction of the 39bn payment to the EU. Conservative loyalists and payroll 186 This group include ministers, whips and other frontbenchers, as well as Tory loyalists who are happy to vote for Theresa Mays Brexit deal as it currently stands. Democratic Unionist party MPs 10 The Northern Irish party voted against the governments Brexit deal because of the backstop arrangement, and could be won over if there are some changes to it. Labour for a second referendum 71 Support for a second referendum is likely to be more widespread than this but not all Labour MPs who hold frontbench position have publicly declared support. These 71 MPs are those who have publicly declared their support and would vote for a referendum even if they were whipped to oppose. Labour MPs opposed to a second referendum 30 Labour MPs who do not want the party to back a second vote have been privately keeping track of the number who would actively oppose it, even if it was whipped by the Labour frontbench. Sources claim about 30 would be actively prepared to rebel. Labour loyalists and independents 150 These include Jeremy Corbyns frontbench and the majority of Labour MPs who are likely to follow the Labour whip. Labour Brexiters and MPs who back Mays deal 3 Only three Labour MPs have backed Mays deal as it currently stands though this number would be likely to grow if it became a softer Brexit or if no deal became a more likely possibility. Others could merge into this group depending on the question, including Labour hard Brexiter Kate Hoey. How admirable that MPs want to amend Brexit. It wont work | Matthew dAncona Read more The SNP, Lib Dems and other parties 51 These MPs, who also include Plaid Cymru and the Greens Caroline Lucas, are all supporters of a second referendum. Independents 8 These MPs are not easy to place. Ex-Labour MPs Ivan Lewis and Jared OMara have tended to vote with their former party. Independent MP Sylvia Hermon, former Labour MP Frank Field and the former Lib Dem MP Stephen Lloyd have tended to vote with the government on Brexit issues. Another ex-Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins is a Brexiter, but also a Corbyn loyalist. Dont vote 11 The Speaker, his three deputies and seven Sinn Fein MPs do not vote.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/jan/22/what-are-mays-options-for-a-plan-b-that-could-win-over-the-commons

Should schools fill key roles with volunteers?

It used to be help on the cake stall. Now an academy chain is seeking an unpaid accounts assistant and a free PA News that an academy trust founded by the Conservative peer Lord James OShaughnessy is advertising for unpaid volunteers to fill key roles in its two primary schools was met with disbelief and dismay by teachers earlier this month. The Floreat Education Academies Trust is looking for full-time and part-time volunteers to fill the jobs of finance assistant, office administrator and personal assistant to the chief executive, Janet Hilary, who was paid 128,768 in 2018. Andrew Morrish chief executive, Victoria Academies Trust, West Midlands No, schools shouldnt rely on volunteers although with funding levels at an all-time low, I can understand why school leaders are having to make such difficult decisions. We are at a cliff edge. There are more than 300,000 additional pupils in the system since 2015, the education services grant for academies has been scrapped to the tune of 600m, and almost a third of local authority secondary schools are in deficit. Not to mention the increase in pensions and national insurance contributions. That said, the solution to the problem seems obvious fairer funding for schools so that heads wont be forced to make such decisions. If my dentist wasnt being paid, Id go elsewhere Andrew Morrish Ironically, of course, the role of the volunteer has been the bedrock of the school system for generations, whether its going on school trips, listening to children read, fundraising, or sitting on a governing body. You want your parents to volunteer because its also a way for you to engage with them and demonstrate that you value them. The issue here is that for the first time we are seeing this creeping into key strategic posts. This is a worrying trend that needs to stop as it undermines the work of those highly skilled and trained professionals that have been doing the job for years. There are issues then around confidentiality and safeguarding. Its about public confidence as well I could probably live with going to my dental surgery knowing some of the backroom posts are being covered by volunteers, but if my dentist or assistant was not being paid, Id probably go elsewhere. Running schools is no different. Chris Jagger parent volunteer at a state primary school in Cambridge Yes, I think schools absolutely need to rely on volunteers to do certain kinds of work. If the teacher spent her time listening to children reading, it would take her an entire day to hear each child read for just 10 minutes a week. Yet thats nowhere near enough to improve childrens reading. So I think its good for parents to be involved. I have found it very rewarding, helping children who were struggling and seeing them improve. It wouldnt bother me if my school advertised for a full-time volunteer to fill a key role. But at the same time, its not ideal. Volunteers can usually only commit to a small numbers of hours a week and Id be concerned an unpaid worker wouldnt be able to spend as much time doing the role as is needed. Raj Unsworth chair of trustees, Pride Multiple Academy Trust, Barnsley The simple answer is no. We are all aware funding is an issue, especially in small schools. But there are other options. Top of my list would be to look at staffing structure and collaboration with other schools. The board should ensure money is not wasted on top-heavy leadership. As for collaboration, this could mean sharing a business manager or even a headteacher. The pool of people you are going to attract to volunteer will be limited. These people will still need to be managed and trained in statutory responsibilities, such as safeguarding and confidentiality. Are you going to accept a lower level of performance from an administrator who is not paid compared to another in the school who is? Lorna Jackson headteacher, Maryland primary school, east London No. At Maryland, we use volunteers parents and other family members to enhance the experiences of our children, but not as free labour. To put volunteers in places to fill employment gaps, especially where there is a high level of skill needed, is misguided. Our volunteers are trained, supervised and treated as part of the schools welfare team. We carefully select the activities we need them to support us with. For example, not just listening to children read but also reading to children, as this is very important for children whose first language is not English. The elephant in the room is that funding for schools is diabolical and has been cut year on year. Clearly, anyone turning to unpaid volunteers to fill jobs that qualified people should be doing is desperate. We need to address the funding, not fill the gaps. That is the direction this country is going in.

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2019/jan/22/should-schools-fill-key-roles-with-volunteers

Where does Andy Reid rank among coaches who never won a Super Bowl?

Andy Reid had a good chance to finally get a ring, but his 20th season as a NFL head coach ended the same as the previous 19. Without a Super Bowl title. His quest to raise the Lombardi will continue. Theres no denying that Reid otherwise has one of the best resumes in league history. Reids 195 regular season wins are the eighth-most in league history and he has both Marty Schottenheimer (200) and Paul Brown (213) in his sights. To put it in further perspective, Reid has more regular season wins in similar timeframes than both Chuck Noll (193 wins over 23 season) and Bill Parcells (172 wins over 19 seasons). He took the Eagles to four straight NFC title games in the early 2000s, winning one before falling to the Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX. Scroll to continue with content Ad Andy Reid is among the best coaches to never win a Super Bowl. (AP) Whats more, Reids coaching tree is full of thick and sturdy branches and its hard to find anyone in the league who will say a bad word about him, which is rare. There were a lot of people left disappointed on Sunday that Reid couldnt get by Bill Belichick again. The presence of Patrick Mahomes and the trust of the Hunt family should guarantee that Reid gets a few more good shots at winning a Super Bowl. But even if he doesnt, he wont be the first great coach to never win a title. Heres how he currently ranks among the best coaches to never finish a season atop the league: Story continues 10. This isnt a listicle of best coaches to never win a playoff game? Eh, thats still OK. Getting the Bengals into the playoffs seven different times was a great feat for Lewis, who was finally fired after this season. He may not be the peers of the men at the top of this list, but leading one of the greatest defenses of all time (the 2000 Ravens) plus winning in Cincinnati is enough to land him on it. 9. John Fox, Panthers/Broncos/Bears Regular season: 133-123 (.520) over 16 seasons Playoff record: 8-7, two Super Bowl appearances Fox is a tricky one. Take away three dismal seasons with the Bears and his career winning percentage is .569. But take away three seasons of Peyton Manning and it plunges to .456. (Its not lost on anyone that taking Fox away from Manning in Denver resulted in Mannings second Super Bowl ring.) Still, Fox is just one of six coaches to take two different teams to the Super Bowl. 8. Chuck Knox, Rams/Bills/Seahawks Regular season: 186-147 (.558) over 22 seasons Playoff record: 7-11, four NFC title game appearances Fox, then Knox, then box in socks. Sounds like a Dr. Seuss stanza. Knox never made a Super Bowl, but the tough-nosed coach had a knack for turning teams around. He made four conference title games (including three in the mid-70s with the Rams) but could never quite reach the biggest stage. An unsuccessful second tour of duty with the Rams in the 90s marred his overall record a bit, but its hard to argue with 186 wins. 7. Dan Reeves, Broncos/Giants/Falcons Regular season: 190-165 (.535) over 23 seasons Playoff record: 11-9, four Super Bowl appearances Another non-winning member of the two-team Super Bowl club, its also hard to judge Reeves career. Coaching an AFC team in the NFCs era of dominance didnt do him any favors. Don Coryell was an offensive genius with the Chargers. (Getty Images) 6. Don Coryell, Cardinals/Chargers Regular season: 111-83 (.572) over 14 seasons Playoff record: 3-6, two AFC title game appearances Coryells innovations in the passing game earn him a revered spot amongst the coaching fraternity as does the success of his coaching tree (John Madden, Joe Gibbs among others). Unfortunately, Coryells Chargers teams, which made two AFC title games, were the equivalent of the Steve Nash-era Suns. A great show that ultimately wasnt built for postseason success. 5. Andy Reid, Eagles/Chiefs Regular season: 195-124 (.611) over 20 seasons Playoff record: 12-14 over 14 appearances, one Super Bowl appearance Hes the only man on this list who has a job and thus a chance of removing himself from it. Only reaching the Super Bowl once keeps him from being ranked ahead of the coaches below. 4. Marv Levy, Chiefs/Bills Regular season: 143-112 (.561) over 17 seasons Playoff record:11-8, four Super Bowl appearances Levy doesnt have as many wins as other coaches on this list, but think about what he accomplished with those teams. A lot of coaches have won a Super Bowl, but only one has played in four straight Levy. Considering those Bills teams could have easily been torn apart by a mixture of ego, success and disappointment, Levys coaching acumen is unquestionable. 3. Marty Schottenheimer, Browns/Chiefs/Chargers/Redskins Regular season: 200-126 (.613) over 21 seasons Playoff record: 5-13, three AFC title game appearances Schottenheimer is seventh on the NFLs all-time coaching wins list; the six men ahead of him are all in the Hall of Fame and have at least one Super Bowl or NFL title to their names. Schotty was a great regular-season coach, but he suffered from some of the most horrendous luck in the playoffs. Were it not for The Drive, The Fumble, Lin Elliott or Marlon McCree, Schottenheimer might already be occupying a deserved spot in Canton. 2. George Allen, Rams/Redskins Regular season: 116-47-5 over 12 seasons Playoff record: 2-7, one Super Bowl appearance The father of the nickel defense, Allen was known as a football coachs football coach. He never posted a losing season and helped turn around both the Rams and Redskins upon taking over. Allen could never win the playoffs, though, and his one Super Bowl appearance unfortunately came against the undefeated 1972 Miami Dolphins. Bud Grant reached four Super Bowls, but went 0-4. (Getty Images) 1. Bud Grant, Vikings Regular season: 158-96-5 (.621) over 18 seasons Playoff record: 10-12, four Super Bowl appearances The Vikings are one of the most underrated tortured fanbases and not enough people talk about Grant as the guy who never got the big one. After winning the Grey Cup four times in the CFL, Grant came to Minnesota and dominated the 70s. The Vikings won 11 of 13 NFC Central titles behind the Purple People Eaters and made the Super Bowl four times. Grant won a 290 games between the NFL and CFL, a combined total that puts him just behind George Halas and Don Shula for career coaching wins. Grant and Levy are the only Super Bowl-era coaches in the Hall of Fame who never won a Super Bowl. More from Yahoo Sports: Wetzel: TomBradys message to PatrickMahomes Report: Pacquiao may have suffered serious injury Controversial OT rule costs Chiefs chance vs. Patriots The Rams know it was a bad call. And no, they dont care.

https://sports.yahoo.com/andy-reid-rank-among-coaches-never-won-super-bowl-170329165.html?src=rss

Will MGIC Investment Corporation Continue to Surge Higher?

As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in MGIC Investment Corporation. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in MGIC Investment Corporation MTG. The stock has moved higher by 2.6% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider MTGs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as MTG has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana. Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report MGIC Investment Corporation (MTG) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/mgic-investment-corporation-continue-surge-095109888.html

Will Twin Disc Continue to Surge Higher?

As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Twin Disc. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Twin Disc, Incorporated TWIN. The stock has moved higher by 1.8% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider TWINs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as TWIN has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. Zacks has just released a Special Report on the booming investment opportunities of legal marijuana. Ignited by new referendums and legislation, this industry is expected to blast from an already robust $6.7 billion to $20.2 billion in 2021. Early investors stand to make a killing, but you have to be ready to act and know just where to look. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Twin Disc, Incorporated (TWIN) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/twin-disc-continue-surge-higher-095809695.html

Where does LSU baseball stand in the preseason rankings?

LSU baseball has no shortage of expectations in 2019. Coming off one of the more difficult seasons in the Paul Mainieri era, LSU brings back most of its core talent and arguably the No. 1 signing class in the country. Mainieri sees the projections calling LSU one of the two or three best teams in the country, and he said he welcomes them. He told NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune two weeks ago he uses it as reinforcement to his team that its not just he who thinks LSU is one of the best teams in the country. He hopes it gives them confidence. Now, most the main preseason college baseball rankings have been published, confirming LSU is right at the top. Heres where the main outlets have the Tigers. Baseball America: No. 2 Baseball America has the Tigers just behind fellow SEC power Vanderbilt. Eight SEC teams are in BAs Top 25, and Florida is just behind LSU at No. 2. Baseball America wrote: The Tigers got a huge boost following the draft when the draft-eligible trio of right-hander Zack Hess and outfielders Antoine Duplantis and Zach Watson opted to return to Baton Rouge and the top-ranked recruiting class in the country landed on campus. LSU this year will have an experienced pitching staff to go with a potent lineup. D1Baseball.com: No. 2 Just like Baseball America, D1Baseball has the Tigers just behind Vanderbilt. Florida is No. 6, and Georgia and Ole Miss are No. 9 and No. 10, respectively. Perfect Game: No. 1 Perfect Game is the highest-profile site to have LSU at No. 1, followed by Oregon State and Vanderbilt. The site wrote: LSU is guided by Paul Mainieri, whose Tigers finished as the runner-up just two years ago with several familiar faces. Outfielders Antoine Duplantis and Zach Watson and staff ace Zack Hess were all drafted yet returned for another season. Shortstop Josh Smith and another starting pitcher, Eric Walker, missed most or all of the 2018 season due to injuries and appear to be ready to return healthy and strong. "Add in still-developing young talent and another strong wave of incoming freshmen and you have one of the deepest rosters in college baseball. Collegiate Baseball Newspaper: No. 1 This was the first of the outlets to rank the Tigers up top, with Vanderbilt just barely behind LSU. "The Tigers, winners of six national titles, will field its best ball club since 2017 when LSU finished second at the College World Series. LSUs last title came 10 seasons ago in 2009. Entering that spring, LSU was also ranked No. 1 by Collegiate Baseball. Five returning position player starters are back and six superb pitchers. Plus, key players return after sitting out virtually all last season because of injuries.

https://www.nola.com/lsu/2019/01/where-does-lsu-baseball-stand-in-the-preseason-rankings.html

Is Marsico 21ST Century Fund (MXXIX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Starting with Marsico 21ST Century Fund (MXXIX) should not be a possibility at this time. MXXIX has a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 5 (Strong Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective We classify MXXIX in the Large Cap Growth category, an area rife with potential choices. Large Cap Growth funds invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. To be considered large-cap, companies must have a market cap over $10 billion. History of Fund/Manager Marsico is responsible for MXXIX, and the company is based out of Denver, CO. The Marsico 21ST Century Fund made its debut in February of 2000 and MXXIX has managed to accumulate roughly $225.99 million in assets, as of the most recently available information. The fund's current manager, Brandon Geisler, has been in charge of the fund since October of 2011. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.17%, and is in the bottom third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 9.14%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of MXXIX over the past three years is 13.36% compared to the category average of 13.01%. Over the past 5 years, the standard deviation of the fund is 12.86% compared to the category average of 12.62%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors It's always important to be aware of the downsides to any future investment, so one should not discount the risks that come with this segment. MXXIX lost 58.48% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 9.64%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. MXXIX has a 5-year beta of 1.01, which means it is likely to be as volatile as the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -1.07. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Holdings Investigating the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is primarily on equities that are traded in the United States. Currently, this mutual fund is holding 95.37% stock in stocks, and these companies have an average market capitalization of $23.71 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors: Technology Other Services Retail Trade With turnover at about 90%, this fund makes more trades per year than the comparable average. Expenses As competition heats up in the mutual fund market, costs become increasingly important. Compared to its otherwise identical counterpart, a low-cost product will be an outperformer, all other things being equal. Thus, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is vital for investors. In terms of fees, MXXIX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.21% compared to the category average of 1.05%. MXXIX is actually more expensive than its peers when you consider factors like cost. Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $100. Bottom Line Overall, Marsico 21ST Century Fund ( MXXIX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively weak performance, average downside risk, and higher fees, Marsico 21ST Century Fund ( MXXIX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now.

https://news.yahoo.com/marsico-21st-century-fund-mxxix-120012336.html

Is USAA World Growth Fund (USAWX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

USAA World Growth Fund (USAWX) is a potential starting point. USAWX carries a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 2 (Buy), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective USAWX is classified in the Global - Equity segment by Zacks, an area full of possibilities. Even though Global - Equity mutual funds invest in bigger markets like the U.S., Europe, and Japan, these kinds of funds aren't limited by geography. Rather, they offer an investment strategy that utilizes the global economy to provide stable returns. History of Fund/Manager USAA Group is based in San Antonio, TX, and is the manager of USAWX. Since USAA World Growth Fund made its debut in October of 1992, USAWX has garnered more than $1.35 billion in assets. The fund is currently managed by a team of investment professionals. Performance Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 4.09%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 6.2%, which places it in the middle third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of USAWX over the past three years is 10.66% compared to the category average of 10.33%. The fund's standard deviation over the past 5 years is 11.12% compared to the category average of 10.27%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In the most recent bear market, USAWX lost 47.96% and outperformed its peer group by 4.61%. This could mean that the fund is a better choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 0.94, so it is likely going to be less volatile than the market at large. Another factor to consider is alpha, as it reflects a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark-in this case, the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -3.58. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses For investors, taking a closer look at cost-related metrics is key, since costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing. Competition is heating up in this space, and a lower cost product will likely outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, all things being equal. In terms of fees, USAWX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1.10% compared to the category average of 1.16%. So, USAWX is actually cheaper than its peers from a cost perspective. This fund requires a minimum initial investment of $3,000, and each subsequent investment should be at least $50. Bottom Line Overall, USAA World Growth Fund ( USAWX ) has a high Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, this fund looks like a good potential choice for investors right now. This could just be the start of your research on USAWXin the Global - Equity category. Consider going to www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for additional information about this fund, and all the others that we rank as well for additional information. We have a full suite of tools on stocks that you can use to find the best choices for your portfolio too, no matter what kind of investor you are. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/usaa-world-growth-fund-usawx-120012738.html

Is American Century Allocation Cap Growth Investor (TWGTX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

Large Cap Growth fund seekers should not consider taking a look at American Century Allocation Cap Growth Investor (TWGTX) at this time. TWGTX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective We classify TWGTX in the Large Cap Growth category, an area rife with potential choices. Large Cap Growth funds invest in many large U.S. companies that are expected to grow much faster compared to other large-cap stocks. To be considered large-cap, companies must have a market cap over $10 billion. History of Fund/Manager TWGTX is a part of the American Century family of funds, a company based out of Kansas City, MO. Since American Century Allocation Cap Growth Investor made its debut in November of 1983, TWGTX has garnered more than $981.22 million in assets. Joseph Reiland is the fund's current manager and has held that role since February of 2018. Performance Of course, investors look for strong performance in funds. This fund has delivered a 5-year annualized total return of 7.5%, and is in the middle third among its category peers. But if you are looking for a shorter time frame, it is also worth looking at its 3-year annualized total return of 7.14%, which places it in the bottom third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. Compared to the category average of 9.89%, the standard deviation of TWGTX over the past three years is 13.08%. Looking at the past 5 years, the fund's standard deviation is 12.6% compared to the category average of 9.76%. This makes the fund more volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In TWGTX's case, the fund lost 51.97% in the most recent bear market and underperformed comparable funds by 3.13%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should note that the fund has a 5-year beta of 1.07, so it is likely going to be more volatile than the market at large. Because alpha represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which is the S&P 500 in this case, one should pay attention to this metric as well. TWGTX has generated a negative alpha over the past five years of -1.29, demonstrating that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Holdings Examining the equity holdings of a mutual fund is also a valuable exercise. This can show us how the manager is applying their stated methodology, as well as if there are any inherent biases in their approach. For this particular fund, the focus is largely on equities that are traded in the United States. As of the last filing date, the mutual fund has 98.27% of its assets in stocks, with an average market capitalization of $308.36 billion. The fund has the heaviest exposure to the following market sectors: Technology Retail Trade Non-Durable This fund's turnover is about 44%, so the fund managers are making fewer trades than comparable funds. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TWGTX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 1% compared to the category average of 1.05%. From a cost perspective, TWGTX is actually cheaper than its peers. Investors should also note that the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500 and that each subsequent investment needs to be at $50. Bottom Line Overall, American Century Allocation Cap Growth Investor ( TWGTX ) has a low Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively similar performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, American Century Allocation Cap Growth Investor ( TWGTX ) looks like a somewhat weak choice for investors right now. Then go over to Zacks.com and check out our mutual fund comparison tool, and all of the other great features that we have to help you with your mutual fund analysis for additional information. For analysis of the rest of your portfolio, make sure to visit Zacks.com for our full suite of tools which will help you investigate all of your stocks and funds in one place. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

https://news.yahoo.com/american-century-allocation-cap-growth-120012853.html

Is T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Balanced (TRPBX) a Strong Mutual Fund Pick Right Now?

T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Balanced (TRPBX) is a possible starting point. TRPBX holds a Zacks Mutual Fund Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on nine forecasting factors like size, cost, and past performance. Objective TRPBX is classified in the Allocation Balanced segment by Zacks, which is an area full of possibilities. Here, investors are able to get a good head start with diversified mutual funds, and play around with core holding options for a portfolio of funds. Allocation Balanced funds look to invest across a balance of asset types, like stocks, bonds, and cash, though including precious metals or commodities is not unusual; these funds are mostly categorized by their respective asset allocation. History of Fund/Manager T. Rowe Price is based in Baltimore, MD, and is the manager of TRPBX. T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Balanced made its debut in June of 1994, and since then, TRPBX has accumulated about $2.20 billion in assets, per the most up-to-date date available. The fund is currently managed by Charles M. Shriver who has been in charge of the fund since May of 2011. Performance Investors naturally seek funds with strong performance. This fund carries a 5-year annualized total return of 4.82%, and it sits in the top third among its category peers. If you're interested in shorter time frames, do not dismiss looking at the fund's 3-year annualized total return of 6.19%, which places it in the top third during this time-frame. When looking at a fund's performance, it is also important to note the standard deviation of the returns. The lower the standard deviation, the less volatility the fund experiences. The standard deviation of TRPBX over the past three years is 6.89% compared to the category average of 8.13%. The standard deviation of the fund over the past 5 years is 7.01% compared to the category average of 8.16%. This makes the fund less volatile than its peers over the past half-decade. Risk Factors Investors should always remember the downsides to a potential investment, and this segment carries some risks one should be aware of. In the most recent bear market, TRPBX lost 38.38% and underperformed its peer group by 1.98%. This could mean that the fund is a worse choice than comparable funds during a bear market. Investors should not forget about beta, an important way to measure a mutual fund's risk compared to the market as a whole. TRPBX has a 5-year beta of 0.59, which means it is likely to be less volatile than the market average. Alpha is an additional metric to take into consideration, since it represents a portfolio's performance on a risk-adjusted basis relative to a benchmark, which in this case, is the S&P 500. Over the past 5 years, the fund has a negative alpha of -0.49. This means that managers in this portfolio find it difficult to pick securities that generate better-than-benchmark returns. Expenses Costs are increasingly important for mutual fund investing, and particularly as competition heats up in this market. And all things being equal, a lower cost product will outperform its otherwise identical counterpart, so taking a closer look at these metrics is key for investors. In terms of fees, TRPBX is a no load fund. It has an expense ratio of 0.55% compared to the category average of 0.88%. From a cost perspective, TRPBX is actually cheaper than its peers. While the minimum initial investment for the product is $2,500, investors should also note that each subsequent investment needs to be at least $100. Bottom Line Overall, T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Balanced ( TRPBX ) has a neutral Zacks Mutual Fund rank, and in conjunction with its comparatively strong performance, average downside risk, and lower fees, T. Rowe Price Personal Strategy Balanced ( TRPBX ) looks like a somewhat average choice for investors right now. Don't stop here for your research on Allocation Balanced funds. We also have plenty more on our site in order to help you find the best possible fund for your portfolio. Make sure to check out www.zacks.com/funds/mutual-funds for more information about the world of funds, and feel free to compare TRPBX to its peers as well for additional information. If you are more of a stock investor, make sure to also check out our Zacks Rank, and our full suite of tools we have available for novice and professional investors alike. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here.

https://news.yahoo.com/t-rowe-price-personal-strategy-120012488.html

Is the Huawei conflict undermining the Canadian dollar?

Briefing highlights Canadian dollar at 75 cents Global markets sinking so far New York poised for weaker open What to watch for today From todays Globe and Mail Canadian dollar slips The Canadian dollar slipped to 75 US cents today, driven down by generally downbeat economic sentiment. But theres another issue out there. Socit Gnrale believes the mounting tensions between Canada and China are helping to push the loonie lower. Story continues below advertisement We are seeing a situation today where the global risk sentiment is a little bit downbeat, said foreign exchange strategist Alvin Tan. But on top of that is the continuing fight that began with the arrest in Vancouver of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou, who was detained at the request of the U.S., which wants her extradited on allegations related to violations of sanctions against Iran. No charges have been proven in court. As Lawrence Martin, Robert Fife and Steven Chase report, the U.S. has told Ottawa it will press ahead with a formal bid for Ms. Mengs extradition. And again today, Chinese authorities demanded she be released. China has also detained, and is still holding, two Canadians it accuses of threatening its national security. This affects the currency because markets could speculate China could take further action against Canada, Mr. Tan said. Which is interesting because U.S.-China relations are at the heart of the matter. Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement But Beijing is desperate for a trade deal with Washington amid tit-for-tat tariffs, and its unlikely that they want to rock the boat, Mr. Tan said. Elsa Lignos, Royal Bank of Canadas global head of foreign exchange strategy in London, said, however, that the loonie doesnt appear to be wildly out of whack with where it should be today. Indeed, the Huawei issue has a bigger impact when it raises questions about relations between the U.S. and China, which affects all asset classes, she said. Read more Stocks sink Global markets are sinking across the board, and New York is poised for a weaker open, amid that general downbeat climate. Tokyos Nikkei lost 0.5 per cent, Hong Kongs Hang Seng 0.7 per cent, and the Shanghai Composite 1.2 per cent. Story continues below advertisement In Europe, Londons FTSE 100, Germanys DAX and the Paris CAC 40 were down by between 0.4 and 0.6 per cent by about 6:25 a.m. ET. New York futures were also down. Read more What to watch for today Statistics Canada is expected to report a downbeat month for the countrys manufacturers. Economists project the agencys monthly sales report will show shipments down by between 0.5 and 1 per cent in November, following a drop of 0.5 per cent in October. A weaker showing from the auto industry is believed to be behind it. This weakness reflects earlier-reported declines in both automobile exports and auto production, said ROB assistant chief economist Paul Ferley. Lower overall manufacturing sales are expected to be abetted further by weakening crude oil prices sending the nominal value of petroleum and coal sales down 7.5 per cent in the month, he added. Story continues below advertisement More news From todays Globe and Mail

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/briefing/article-is-the-huawei-conflict-undermining-the-canadian-dollar/

Will Technology Kill Or Save The High Street?

Just weeks after British retailers suffered major losses during the festive period, new research shows that 39 percent of Britons would not care if all high street stores closed down. The study, carried out by Awin, also revealed that 68 percent of recipients did most of their shopping online. Many cited ease and cheaper prices for their preference for online over high street shopping. 31 percent thought the High Street would be gone within five years as the shift to online giants continues. Indeed, this year alone more than 23,000 shops are forecast to close in the UK, according to an annual report from the real estate agent adviser Altus Group. Retailers are certainly trialing it. Across the globe, stores are offering experiences to dazzle, delight and augment the usual shopping experience. For example, Macy's has revitalized its department store chain with new technology initiatives, including VR and AR. In pilot stores, the company found that a VR tool which virtually placed Macy's furniture into photos of shoppers homes increased the overall basket size by more than 60 percent versus non-VR furniture sales. Fashion retailers are also using tech. Far from being a gimmick, smart mirrors can enhance the shopping experience in a useful way by allowing customers to try on different colors and styles easily. MemoMi promises to re-invent the experience of luxury shopping with trying on without taking off. This high-fidelity, digital imaging software platform delivers live color change to what you are wearing or allows you to try on clothes, add accessories, plus change patterns and colors without actually trying on a single item. Timberland has trailed a virtual fitting room using smart signage units in its shopfronts. Passers-by could try on the whole collection simply by using hand gestures. Enabled by Kinect technology, static shopfronts became interactive changing rooms as people tried new looks, shared them with friends on social media and, most importantly, bought items from the range. Zara has embraced AR by bringing virtual models to life in-store. The two-week initiative was rolled out across 120 stores globally. It allowed customers who downloaded the Zara AR app to hold up their phone to certain store windows or a sensor within the store and see models come to life on their screens walking and talking - wearing selected items from the Zara range, which they could click through and buy. Zara is not the first brand to use AR. Brands such as Burberry and Gap have also dabbled. VR is also being used to drive traffic in-store, with brands such as Tommy Hilfiger, Topshop, and Dior all employing the technology. To kick off the summer season in 2017, the flagship Topshop store on Oxford Street in London created an interactive pool scene in its shop window complete with a VR water slide. The beauty of the digital experience was not only the fun and excitement it added to shopping trips, but the ability to include brand advertising along the VR ride. Practically, VR allows brands to showcase lines and accessories that may not all fit in a physical store. VR can also transport customers to another place. For example, shoppers could be taken on a virtual journey of how a garment was made to give them a better understanding of the product and brand or, as Coach did, given access to coveted runway shows. Goldman Sachs forecasts the market for AR and VR in retail will reach $1.6 billion by 2025. With their ability to create a more immersive, interactive and richer experience, AR and VR in retail hold promise to create the differentiated brand experiences that drive conversions, repeat visits and higher revenue.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrogers/2019/01/22/will-technology-kill-or-save-the-high-street/

Have We Learned The Alcoa 'Keystone Habit' Lesson?

Paul ONeills tenure at the helm of Alcoa is now the stuff of legend. Introduced to a group of investors and analysts in October 1987, he didnt talk about revenue and expenses and debt ratios and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. I want to talk to you about worker safety, he told the Wall Street crowd. Every year, numerous Alcoa workers are injured so badly that they miss a day of work, he continued. Our safety record is better than the general American workforce, especially considering that our employees work with metals that are 1,500 degrees and machines that can rip a mans arm off. But its not good enough. I intend to make Alcoa the safest company in America. I intend to go for zero injuries. When one attendee asked about inventories and another asked about capital ratios - the standard vocabulary for these kinds of sessions - ONeill returned to the same theme. Im not certain you heard me, said the new CEO. If you want to understand how Alcoa is doing, you need to look at our workplace safety figures. If we bring our injury rates down, it wont be because of cheerleading or the nonsense you sometimes hear from other CEOs. It will be because the individuals at this company have agreed to become part of something important: Theyve devoted themselves to creating a habit of excellence. Safety will be an indicator that were making progress in changing our habits across the entire institution. Thats how we should be judged. One of the investors told author Charles Duhigg he bolted for a phone after hearing ONeills declaration. The board put a crazy hippie in charge and hes going to kill the company, the investor said he told his clients. I ordered them to sell their stock immediately, before everyone else in the room started calling their clients and telling them the same thing. It was literally the worst piece of advice I gave in my entire career. A prescient investor would have gone long on Alcoa stock. By the time ONeill retired in 2000, the companys annual net income was five times larger than before he arrived, and its market capitalization had risen by $27 billion, wrote Duhigg in his bestselling book, The Power of Habit. Someone who invested a million dollars in Alcoa on the day ONeill was hired would have earned another million dollars in dividends while he headed the company, and the value of their stock would be five times bigger when he left. Whats more, Duhigg wrote, all that growth occurred while Alcoa became one of the safest companies in the world. Before ONeills arrival, almost every Alcoa plant had at least one accident per week. Once his safety plan was implemented, some facilities would go years without a single employee losing a workday due to an accident. The companys worker injury rate fell to one-twentieth the U.S. average. (The Alcoa chapter can be read here. Full disclosure: Alcoa was a client of SafeStart, where I am an executive advisor.) ONeill hasnt been at the helm of Alcoa for nearly two decades. The Power of Habit was published seven years ago. There are three possibilities. A. It was just an anecdote, a situation unique to Alcoa at that time and ONeills management style. We shouldnt read too much into it. B. The key to Alcoas turnaround was not safety per se, but obsessing over something important - a keystone habit, as Duhigg would call it. For ONeill, it was safety. But a company can get comparable results from focusing on customers, innovation, operational excellence, employee engagement or some other goal integral to the companys success. C. The connection between performance and the discipline needed to achieve a stellar safety record is robust and unique. A leadership team that cracks the code on keeping people safe will simultaneously drive higher levels of performance in ways otherwise difficult to accomplish. The evidence accumulated since ONeill stepped down and especially since The Power of Habit was published appears to contradict A, support B and give a nod toward C. Putting safety first is one of the best strategies, and sometimes the best strategy, for getting an organization to realize its potential. Beyond the loss and suffering they cause, accidents are expensive. The National Safety Council estimates that in 2015, work injuries cost companies $142.5 billion and the more common off-the-job accidents cost an additional $358.3 billion. Lost production time from on- and off-the-job mishaps that year totaled 360 million days. The work-related accidents alone cost $45.8 billion in lost wages and productivity, $31.4 billion in medical costs, $46.1 billion in administrative expenses, damage to vehicles of $3.6 billion and fire damage of $4.3 billion. The NSC estimates the average worker needs to produce goods or services worth $900 in a year just to offset the cost of work injuries at his or her firm. In isolation, safety investments have a strong direct return on investment. For example, a six-year study of an energy firm found that strategic investments in occupational safety and health cost the company EUR 0.8 million. However, EUR 1.8 million were saved in the same period, resulting in a 2.20 cost-benefit ratio. The trend in cost savings is strongly positive. No one is arguing that reducing these costs, large as they are, is enough by itself to turn a company around or make it substantially more profitable. Instead, those who study these things for a living find, as ONeill asserted, that safety is a natural rallying point because its as much in the employees interest as in the companys. They also find that, if executed well, safety demands the kind of universal attention and teamwork from which which every other corporate initiative benefits. "To protect workers," Duhigg wrote, "Alcoa needed to become the best, most streamlined aluminum company on earth. A simplistic view of accidents considers just the proximate causes - the stuff that can be diagrammed and written in concrete terms in an OSHA report. But the research on accident prevention shows connections throughout the organization, from leadership to culture to employee engagement to sleep. Effective risk prevention, wrote three members of the civil engineering faculty at the University of Aveiro in Portugal, can only be achieved by a global correlation of causal factors including not only production ones but also client requirements, financial climate, design team competence, project and risk management, financial capacity, health and safety policy and early planning. Those are the operational realities. Compounding their effect are the motivational truths. When employees believe their employer is aiming to keep them safe, it unleashes the kind of reciprocity that affects more than just the accident rate. In a 2012 CNN interview, ONeill called it discretionary energy delivered when employees are treated with dignity and respect every day. . . A down payment on that is nobody ever gets hurt here, because we care about our own commitment to our safety, and we care about the people we work with. And it swells up to into everything you do, so it creates the sense of pride about the organization you're involved in. Confirmation of that reciprocity has since emerged in a 2016 study of 6,207 truck drivers. It found that their perceptions of the company safety climate (based on questions such as, My company uses any available information to improve existing safety rules) were predictive of their levels of job satisfaction, engagement and the subsequent turnover rate. Evidence of that can be found in a 2016 analysis of returns for those organizations that won the Corporate Health Achievement Award, established in 1995 by the American College of Occupation and Environmental Medicine to recognize the healthiest, safest companies and organizations in North America. Seven researchers tracked what would have happened if an investor bought stock in CHAA-winning companies at the beginning of 2001 and rebalanced the portfolio each year when new winners were announced (including doubling or tripling down on companies that earned the award multiple years). Companies that scored high in the CHAA safety category outperformed the market by three times, achieving a return of 314% compared to the S&Ps 105% during the same period. This study adds to the growing evidence, wrote the analysts, that a healthy and safe workplace correlates with a companys performance and its ability to provide positive returns to shareholders. Thats the evidence. But even now, its frequently not the conviction of senior executives. Many still have it backward, believing safety and performance are antagonistic. Many business leaders have an implicit but unfounded belief that, while it is necessary to reduce workplace injury risk, there is a trade-off between profits and the expenditures necessary to keep workplaces safe, George Washington University professor and former OSHA administrator David Michaels wrote just last year in the Harvard Business Review. Companies can be successful and safe at the same time. The reality is that virtually all workplace injuries are preventable, and safety management and operational excellence are intimately linked. Maybe its because safety is such a visceral issue - lives and limbs - that our minds balk at connecting it with financial performance. No! It should be safety for its own sake, were including to think. It should stand alone, its importance self-evident. With good intentions, we keep it sequestered. When we say Safety First, we dont mean, This is the first step to tripling the stock price. We mean, Most important, lets not get anyone hurt in the process. Perhaps because were naturally uneasy confusing the sounds of heartbeats and stock tickers, we resist asserting safety as ONeill did, as the lead indicator of competent management and employee engagement, and the first promise a company should make to its workers. A CEO who properly connects this foundational, compassionate concern to financial imperatives, disconsonant as it may feel, will not only make more money, but better integrate safety into the strategy of the company, protecting lives in the process. That would make it a very good habit, indeed.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/roddwagner/2019/01/22/have-we-learned-the-alcoa-keystone-habit-lesson/

Did a fan shine a laser pointer in Tom Brady's face during the AFC Championship Game?

originally appeared on nbcsportsboston.com The crowd at Arrowhead Stadium is known to get rowdy, but one fan may have crossed the line during Sunday night's AFC Championship Game. Scroll to continue with content Ad KMBC reporter William Joy shared videos of what appears to be a laser being shined in Tom Brady's face during multiple plays. Watch below. . . Our photographer, Turner Twyman, caught someone pointing what appears to be a laser pointer in Tom Brady's face last night. Play between the "muff" that wasn't and Sorensen int. @NFL, @Patriots and @Chiefs all told me they weren't aware of the incident. pic.twitter.com/ejWBQ6i64C William Joy (@WilliamKMBC) January 21, 2019 It happened one other time that we've seen on a pass to Hogan. You be the judge. If so, they failed. Story continues In vintage Brady fashion, the Patriots quarterback led New England late in the fourth quarter and then in overtime with a 75-yard touchdown drive to advance to his ninth Super Bowl. Click here to download the new MyTeams App by NBC Sports! Receive comprehensive coverage of your teams and stream the Celtics easily on your device.

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Is P&G taking Nelson Peltz's advice for a rebound?

CLOSE Founded in 2005, New York City-based Trian Fund Management says it "seeks to invest in high quality but undervalued and under-performing public companies and to work constructively with the management and boards of those companies." What this will mean for Cincinnati-based P&G isn't clear. Wochit Procter & Gamble's stock has rebounded from a rocky 2018. The Cincinnati-based consumer product giant has also unveiled eye-catching advertising and new products. It's also made a string of strategic acquisitions. Analysts say P&G still has a long way to go to reignite steady sales growth, despite the company's stock hitting an all-time high (adjusted for splits) of $96.90 last month. While the company delivered the strongest quarter in five years in October, executives took pains not to label it a breakthrough following a year of turnaround and tepid growth. Analysts say the company's stock is likely benefitting from market jitters as trade tensions and recession fears prompt a "flight-to-safety" shift by some investors to stable sectors, including companies like P&G, which sell consumer staples. In November, P&G seemed to take a page from Peltz when it announced a restructuring of business units. "It's a controlled response to suggestions by Peltz," said Terry Kelly, principal at Cincinnati-based Barlett & Co., noting the investor lambasted P&G's "bureaucracy" during his 2017 campaign for a board seat. Kelly said P&G delivered a solid first quarter, but needs to generate several more before anyone declares the company fixed. P&G will update investors on its turnaround progress on Wednesday when it reports its second-quarter results. Wall Street expects the Cincinnati consumer products giant to generate a $3.2 billion profit before one-time items on sales of $17.2 billion, according to Zacks Investment Research, a Chicago firm. Last year, P&G reported a $2.5 billion profit on sales of $17.4 billion for the same period. Here's what to look for in the report: Enhance your skins appearance and reduce unevenness over time with Opt. Skincare just got smarter, but thats just the start. Were always innovating our products to improve your everyday life. #PGLifeLab#CEShttps://t.co/nhwVRVAy57pic.twitter.com/SNOTJMIP9r P&G (@ProcterGamble) January 11, 2019 Were joining forces with @tristanwalker and @walkercobrands to better serve consumers of color around the world. Learn more about @bevel and @formbeauty , which are joining the P&G family of brands. https://t.co/jwAdyC905Wpic.twitter.com/yYV9YXpmu0 P&G (@ProcterGamble) December 12, 2018 Buy Photo Procter & Gamble is based in Cincinnati. (Photo: Enquirer file/Cara Owsley) For the latest on P&G, Kroger, Fifth Third Bank and Cincinnati business news, follow @alexcoolidge on Twitter. Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2019/01/22/is-p-g-taking-nelson-peltzs-advice-for-a-rebound/2594664002/

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/money/2019/01/22/is-p-g-taking-nelson-peltzs-advice-for-a-rebound/2594664002/

Does Journalism Have a Future?

The wood-panelled tailgate of the 1972 Oldsmobile station wagon dangled open like a broken jaw, making a wobbly bench on which four kids could sit, eight legs swinging. Every Sunday morning, long before dawn, wed get yanked out of bed to stuff the cars way-back with stacks of twine-tied newspapers, clamber onto the tailgate, cut the twine with my mothers sewing scissors, and ride around town, bouncing along on that bench, while my father shouted out orders from the drivers seat. Watch out for the dog! hed holler between draws on his pipe. Inside the screen door! Mailbox! As the car crept along, never stopping, wed each grab a paper and dash in the dark across icy driveways or dew-drunk grass, crashing, seasonally, into unexpected snowmen. Back porch! Money under the mat! He kept a list, scrawled on the back of an envelope, taped to the dashboard: the Accounts. They owe three weeks! He didnt need to remind us. We knew each Doberman and every debt. Wed deliver our papersWorcester Sunday Telegramsand then run back to the car and scramble onto the tailgate, dropping the coins wed collected into empty Briggs tobacco tins as we bumped along to the next turn, the newspaper route our Sabbath. The Worcester Sunday Telegram was founded in 1884, when a telegram meant something fast. Two years later, it became a daily. It was never a great paper but it was always a pretty good paper: useful, gossipy, and resolute. It cultivated talent. The poet Stanley Kunitz was a staff writer for the Telegram in the nineteen-twenties. The New York Times reporter Douglas Kneeland, who covered Kent State and Charles Manson, began his career there in the nineteen-fifties. Joe McGinniss reported for the Telegram in the nineteen-sixties before writing The Selling of the President. From bushy-bearded nineteenth-century politicians to baby-faced George W. Bush, the paper was steadfastly Republican, if mainly concerned with scandals and mustachioed villains close to home: overdue repairs to the main branch of the public library, police raids on illegal betting establishmentsWorcester Dog Chases Worcester Cat Over Worcester Fence, as the old Washington press-corps joke about a typical headline in a local paper goes. Its pages rolled off giant, thrumming presses in a four-story building that overlooked City Hall the way every city paper used to look out over every city hall, the Bat-Signal over Gotham. Most newspapers like that havent lasted. Between 1970 and 2016, the year the American Society of News Editors quit counting, five hundred or so dailies went out of business; the rest cut news coverage, or shrank the papers size, or stopped producing a print edition, or did all of that, and it still wasnt enough. The newspaper mortality rate is old news, and nostalgia for dead papers is itself pitiful at this point, even though, I still say, theres a principle involved. I wouldnt weep about a shoe factory or a branch-line railroad shutting down, Heywood Broun, the founder of the American Newspaper Guild, said when the New York World went out of business, in 1931. But newspapers are different. And the bleeding hasnt stopped. Between January, 2017, and April, 2018, a third of the nations largest newspapers, including the Denver Post and the San Jose Mercury News, reported layoffs. In a newer trend, so did about a quarter of digital-native news sites. BuzzFeed News laid off a hundred people in 2017; speculation is that BuzzFeed is trying to dump it. The Huffington Post paid most of its writers nothing for years, upping that recently to just above nothing, and yet, despite taking in a hundred and forty-six million dollars in advertising revenue in 2018, it failed to turn a profit. Even veterans of august and still thriving papers are worried, especially about the fake news thats risen from the ashes of the dead news. We are, for the first time in modern history, facing the prospect of how societies would exist without reliable news, Alan Rusbridger, for twenty years the editor-in-chief of the Guardian, writes in Breaking News: The Remaking of Journalism and Why It Matters Now. There are not that many places left that do quality news well or even aim to do it at all, Jill Abramson, a former executive editor of the New York Times, writes in Merchants of Truth: The Business of News and the Fight for Facts. Like most big-paper reporters and editors who write about the crisis of journalism, Rusbridger and Abramson are interested in national and international news organizations. The local story is worse. First came conglomeration. Worcester, Massachusetts, the second-largest city in New England, used to have four dailies: the Telegram, in the morning, and the Gazette, in the evening (under the same ownership), the Spy, and the Post. Now it has one. The last great laying waste to American newspapers came in the early decades of the twentieth century, mainly owing to (a) radio and (b) the Depression; the number of dailies fell from 2,042 in 1920 to 1,754 in 1944, leaving 1,103 cities with only one paper. Newspaper circulation rose between 1940 and 1990, but likely only because more people were reading fewer papers, and, as A. J. Liebling once observed, nothing is crummier than a one-paper town. In 1949, after yet another New York daily closed its doors, Liebling predicted, If the trend continues, New York will be a one- or two-paper town by about 1975. He wasnt that far off. In the nineteen-eighties and nineties, as Christopher B. Daly reports in Covering America: A Narrative History of the Nations Journalism, the big kept getting bigger. Conglomeration can be good for business, but it has generally been bad for journalism. Media companies that want to get bigger tend to swallow up other media companies, suppressing competition and taking on debt, which makes publishers cowards. In 1986, the publisher of the San Francisco Chronicle bought the Worcester Telegram and the Evening Gazette, and, three years later, right about when Time and Warner became Time Warner, the Telegram and the Gazette became the Telegram & Gazette, or the T&G, smaller fries but the same potato. Next came the dot-coms. Craigslist went online in the Bay Area in 1996 and spread across the continent like a weed, choking off local newspapers most reliable source of revenue: classified ads. The T&G tried to hold on to its classified-advertising section by wading into the shallow waters of the Internet, at telegram.com, where it was called, acronymically, and not a little desperately, TANGO! Then began yet another round of corporate buyouts, deeply leveraged deals conducted by executives answerable to stockholders seeking higher dividends, not better papers. In 1999, the New York Times Company bought the T&G for nearly three hundred million dollars. By 2000, only three hundred and fifty of the fifteen hundred daily newspapers left in the United States were independently owned. And only one out of every hundred American cities that had a daily newspaper was anything other than a one-paper town. Then came the fall, when papers all over the country, shackled to mammoth corporations and a lumbering, century-old business model, found themselves unable to compete with the upstartsonline news aggregators like the Huffington Post (est. 2005) and Breitbart News (est. 2007), which were, to readers, free. News aggregators also drew display advertisers away from print; Facebook and Google swallowed advertising accounts whole. Big papers found ways to adapt; smaller papers mainly folded. Between 1994 and 2016, years when the population of Worcester County rose by more than a hundred thousand, daily home delivery of the T&G declined from more than a hundred and twenty thousand to barely thirty thousand. In one year alone, circulation fell by twenty-nine per cent. In 2012, after another round of layoffs, the T&G left its building, its much reduced staff small enough to fit into two floors of an office building nearby. The next year, the owner of the Boston Red Sox bought the newspaper, along with the Boston Globe, from the New York Times Company for seventy million dollars, only to unload the T&G less than a year later, for seventeen million dollars, to Halifax Media Group, which held it for only half a year before Halifax itself was bought, flea-market style, by an entity that calls itself, unironically, the New Media Investment Group. The numbers mask an uglier story. In the past half century, and especially in the past two decades, journalism itselfthe way news is covered, reported, written, and editedhas changed, including in ways that have made possible the rise of fake news, and not only because of mergers and acquisitions, and corporate ownership, and job losses, and Google Search, and Facebook and BuzzFeed. Theres no shortage of amazing journalists at work, clear-eyed and courageous, broad-minded and brilliant, and no end of fascinating innovation in matters of form, especially in visual storytelling. Still, journalism, as a field, is as addled as an addict, gaunt, wasted, and twitchy, its pockets as empty as its nights are sleepless. Its faster than it used to be, so fast. Its also edgier, and needier, and angrier. It wants and it wants and it wants. The daily newspaper is the taproot of modern journalism. Dailies mainly date to the eighteen-thirties, the decade in which the word journalism was coined, meaning daily reporting, the jour in journalism. Early dailies depended on subscribers to pay the bills. The press was partisan, readers were voters, and the news was meant to persuade (and voter turnout was high). But by 1900 advertising made up more than two-thirds of the revenue at most of the nations eighteen thousand newspapers, and readers were consumers (and voter turnout began its long fall). The newspaper is not a missionary or a charitable institution, but a business that collects and publishes news which the people want and are willing to buy, one Missouri editor said in 1892. Newspapers stopped rousing the rabble so much because businesses wanted readers, no matter their politics. There is a sentiment gaining ground to the effect that the public wants its politics straight, a journalist wrote the following year. Reporters pledged themselves to facts, facts, and more facts, and, as the press got less partisan and more ad-based, newspapers sorted themselves out not by their readers political leanings but by their incomes. If you had a lot of money to spend, you read the St. Paul Pioneer Press; if you didnt have very much, you read the St. Paul Dispatch. Unsurprisingly, critics soon began writing big books, usually indictments, about the relationship between business and journalism. When you read your daily paper, are you reading facts or propaganda? Upton Sinclair asked on the jacket of The Brass Check, in 1919. In The Disappearing Daily, in 1944, Oswald Garrison Villard mourned what was once a profession but is now a business. The big book that inspired Jill Abramson to become a journalist was David Halberstams The Powers That Be, from 1979, a history of the rise of the modern, corporate-based media in the middle decades of the twentieth century. Halberstam, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1964 for his reporting from Vietnam for the New York Times, took up his story more or less where Villard left off. He began with F.D.R. and CBS radio; added the Los Angeles Times, Time Inc., and CBS television; and reached his storys climax with the Washington Post and the New York Times and the publication of the Pentagon Papers, in 1971. Halberstam argued that between the nineteen-thirties and the nineteen-seventies radio and television brought a new immediacy to reporting, while the resources provided by corporate owners and the demands made by an increasingly sophisticated national audience led to harder-hitting, investigative, adversarial reporting, the kind that could end a war and bring down a President. Richard Rovere summed it up best: What The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Time and CBS have in common is that, under pressures generated internally and externally, they moved from venality or parochialism or mediocrity or all three to something approaching journalistic excellence and responsibility. That move came at a price. Watergate, like Vietnam, had obscured one of the central new facts about the role of journalism in America, Halberstam wrote. Only very rich, very powerful corporate institutions like these had the impact, the reach, and above all the resources to challenge the President of the United States. It was weird. He got on his knees and put this rock on my finger and asked me to spend the rest of my life with just him! Theres reach, and then theres reach. When I was growing up, in the nineteen-seventies, nobody I knew read the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the Wall Street Journal. Nobody I knew even read the Boston Globe, a paper that used to have a rule that no piece should ever be so critical of anyone that its writer could not shake hands the next day with the man about whom he had written. After journalism put up its dukes, my father only ever referred to the Globe as that Communist rag, not least because, in 1967, it became the first major paper in the United States to come out against the Vietnam War. The view of the new journalism held by people like my father escaped Halberstams notice. In 1969, Nixons Vice-President, Spiro Agnew, delivered a speech drafted by the Nixon aide Pat Buchanan accusing the press of liberal bias. Its good politics for us to kick the press around, Nixon is said to have told his staff. The press, Agnew said, represents a concentration of power over American public opinion unknown in history, consisting of men who read the same newspapers and talk constantly to one another. How dare they. Halberstam waved this aside as so much P.R. hooey, but, as has since become clear, Agnew reached a ready audience, especially in houses like mine. The press regarded Agnew with uncontrolled hilarity, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., observed in 1970, but no one can question the force of Spiro T. Agnews personality, nor the impact of his speeches. No scholar of journalism can afford to ignore Agnew anymore. In On Press: The Liberal Values That Shaped the News, the historian Matthew Pressman argues that any understanding of the crisis of journalism in the twenty-first century has to begin by vanquishing the ghost of Spiro T. Agnew. For Pressman, the pivotal period for the modern newsroom is what Abramson calls Halberstams Golden Age, between 1960 and 1980, and its signal feature was the adoption not of a liberal bias but of liberal values: Interpretation replaced transmission, and adversarialism replaced deference. In 1960, nine out of every ten articles in the Times about the Presidential election were descriptive; by 1976, more than half were interpretative. This turn was partly a consequence of televisionpeople who simply wanted to find out what happened could watch television, so newspapers had to offer something elseand partly a consequence of McCarthyism. The rise of McCarthy has compelled newspapers of integrity to develop a form of reporting which puts into context what men like McCarthy have to say, the radio commentator Elmer Davis said in 1953. Five years later, the Times added News Analysis as a story category. Once upon a time, news stories were like tape recorders, the Bulletin of the American Society of Newspaper Editors commented in 1963. No more. A whole generation of events had taught us betterHitler and Goebbels, Stalin and McCarthy, automation and analog computers and missiles. These changes werent ideologically driven, Pressman insists, but they had ideological consequences. At the start, leading conservatives approved. To keep a reporters prejudices out of a story is commendable, Irving Kristol wrote in 1967. To keep his judgment out of a story is to guarantee that the truth will be emasculated. After the Times and the Post published the Pentagon Papers, Kristol changed his spots. Journalists, he complained in 1972, were now engaged in a perpetual confrontation with the social and political order (the establishment, as they say). By 1975, after Watergate, Kristol was insisting that most journalists today . . . are liberals. With that, the conservative attack on the press was off and running, all the way to Trumpismthe failing New York Times, CNN is fake news, the press is the true enemy of the peopleand, in a revolution-devouring-its-elders sort of way, the shutting down of William Kristols Weekly Standard, in December. The pathetic and dishonest Weekly Standard . . . is flat broke and out of business, Trump tweeted. May it rest in peace! What McCarthy and television were for journalism in the nineteen-fifties, Trump and social media would be in the twenty-tens: license to change the rules. Halberstams Golden Age, or what he called journalisms high-water mark, ended about 1980. Abramsons analysis in Merchants of Truth begins with journalisms low-water mark, in 2007, the year after Facebook launched its News Feed, the year everything began to fall apart. Merchants of Truth isnt just inspired by The Powers That Be; its modelled on it. Abramsons book follows Halberstams structure and mimics its style, chronicling the history of a handful of nationally prominent media organizationsin her case, BuzzFeed, Vice, the Times, and the Washington Postin alternating chapters that are driven by character sketches and reported scenes. The book is saturated with a lot of gossip and glitz, including details about the restaurants the powers that be frequent, and what they wear (Sulzbergerthe Times publisherdressed in suits from Bloomingdales, stylish without being ostentatiously bespoke, and wore suspenders before they went out of fashion), alongside crucial insights about structural transformations, like how Web and social-media publishing unbundled the newspaper, so that readers who used to find a fat newspaper on their front porch could, on their phones, look, instead, at only one story. Each individual article now lived on its own page, where it had a unique URL and could be shared, and spread virally, Abramson observes. This put stories, rather than papers, in competition with one another. This history is a chronicle of missed opportunities, missteps, and lessons learned the hard way. As long ago as 1992, an internal report at the Washington Post urged the mounting of an electronic product: The Post ought to be in the forefront of this. Early on, the Guardian started a New Media lab, which struck a lot of people as frivolous, Rusbridger writes, because, at the time, only 3 per cent of households owned a PC and a modem, a situation not unlike that at the Guardians own offices, where it was rumored that downstairs a bloke called Paul in IT had a Mac connected to the internet. A 1996 business plan for the Guardian concluded that the priority was print, and the London Times editor Simon Jenkins predicted, The Internet will strut an hour upon the stage, and then take its place in the ranks of the lesser media. In 2005, the Post lost a chance at a ten-per-cent investment in Facebook, whose returns, as Abramson points out, would have floated the newspaper for decades. The C.E.O. of the Washington Post Company, Don Graham, and Mark Zuckerberg shook hands over the deal, making a verbal contract, but, when Zuckerberg weaseled out of it to take a better offer, Graham, out of kindness to a young fella just starting out, simply let him walk away. The next year, the Post shrugged off a proposal from two of its star political reporters to start a spinoff Web site; they went on to found Politico. The Times, Abramson writes, declined an early chance to invest in Google, and was left to throw the kitchen sink at its failing business model, including adding a Thursday Style section to attract more high-end advertising revenue. Bill Keller, then the newspapers editor, said, If luxury porn is what saves the Baghdad bureau, so be it. More alarming than what the Times and the Post failed to do was how so much of what they did do was determined less by their own editors than by executives at Facebook and BuzzFeed. If journalism has been reinvented during the past two decades, it has, in the main, been reinvented not by reporters and editors but by tech companies, in a sequence of events that, in Abramsons harrowing telling, resemble a series of puerile stunts more than acts of public service. Merchants of Truth has been charged with factual errors, including by people Abramson interviewed, especially younger journalists. She can also be maddeningly condescending. She doffs her cap at Sulzberger, with his natty suspenders, but dismisses younger reporters at places like Vice as notable mainly for being impossibly hip, with interesting hair. This is distracting, and too bad, because there is a changing of the guard worth noting, and its not incidental: its critical. All the way through to the nineteen-eighties, all sorts of journalists, including magazine, radio, and television reporters, got their start working on daily papers, learning the ropes and the rules. Rusbridger started out in 1976 as a reporter at the Cambridge Evening News, which covered stories that included a petition about a pedestrian crossing and a root vegetable that looked like Winston Churchill. In the U.K., a reporter who wanted to go to Fleet Street had first to work for three years on a provincial newspaper, pounding the pavement. Much the same applied in the U.S., where a cub reporter did time at the Des Moines Register, or the Worcester Telegram, before moving up to the New York Times or the Herald Tribune. Beat reporting, however, is not the backstory of the people who, beginning in the nineteen-nineties, built the New Media. Jonah Peretti started out soaking up postmodern theory at U.C. Santa Cruz in the mid-nineteen-nineties, and later published a scholarly journal article about the scrambled, disjointed, and incoherent way of thinking produced by accelerated visual experiences under late capitalism. Or something like that. Imagine an article written by that American Studies professor in Don DeLillos White Noise. Peretti thought that watching a lot of MTV can mess with your headThe rapid fire succession of signifiers in MTV style media erodes the viewers sense of temporal continuityleaving you confused, stupid, and lonely. Capitalism needs schizophrenia, but it also needs egos, Peretti wrote. The contradiction is resolved through the acceleration of the temporal rhythm of late capitalist visual culture. This type of acceleration encourages weak egos that are easily formed, and fade away just as easily. Voil, a business plan! Perettis career in viral content began in 2001, with a prank involving e-mail and Nike sneakers while he was a graduate student at the M.I.T. Media Lab. (Peretti ordered custom sneakers embroidered with the word sweatshop and then circulated Nikes reply.) In 2005, a year the New York Times Company laid off five hundred employees and the Post began paying people to retire early, Peretti joined Andrew Breitbart, a Matt Drudge acolyte, and Ken Lerer, a former P.R. guy at AOL Time Warner, in helping Arianna Huffington, a millionaire and a former anti-feminist polemicist, launch the Huffington Post. Peretti was in charge of innovations that included a click-o-meter. Within a couple of years, the Huffington Post had more Web traffic than the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, and the Wall Street Journal. Its business was banditry. Abramson writes that when the Times published a deeply reported exclusive story about WikiLeaks, which took months of investigative work and a great deal of money, the Huffington Post published its own version of the story, using the same headlineand beat out the Times story in Google rankings. We were learning that the internet behaved like a clattering of jackdaws, Rusbridger writes. Nothing remained exclusive for more than two minutes. Pretty soon, there were jackdaws all over the place, with their schizophrenic late-capitalist accelerated signifiers. Breitbart left the Huffington Post and started Breitbart News around the same time that Peretti left to focus on his own company, Contagious Media, from which he launched BuzzFeed, where he tested the limits of virality with offerings like the seven best links about gay penguins and YouTube Porn Hacks. He explained his methods in a pitch to venture capitalists: Raw buzz is automatically published the moment it is detected by our algorithm, and the future of the industry is advertising as content. Facebook launched its News Feed in 2006. In 2008, Peretti mused on Facebook, Thinking about the economics of the news business. The company added its Like button in 2009. Peretti set likability as BuzzFeeds goal, and, to perfect the instruments for measuring it, he enlisted partners, including the Times and the Guardian, to share their data with him in exchange for his reports on their metrics. Lists were liked. Hating people was liked. And it turned out that news, which is full of people who hate other people, can be crammed into lists. Chartbeat, a content intelligence company founded in 2009, launched a feature called Newsbeat in 2011. Chartbeat offers real-time Web analytics, displaying a constantly updated report on Web traffic that tells editors what stories people are reading and what stories theyre skipping. The Post winnowed out reporters based on their Chartbeat numbers. At the offices of Gawker, the Chartbeat dashboard was displayed on a giant screen. In 2011, Peretti launched BuzzFeed News, hiring a thirty-five-year-old Politico journalist, Ben Smith, as its editor-in-chief. Smith asked for a scoop-a-day from his reporters, who, he told Abramson, had little interest in the rules of journalism: They didnt even know what rules they were breaking. In 2012, BuzzFeed introduced three new one-click ways for readers to respond to stories, beyond liking themLOL, OMG, and WTFand ran lists like 10 Reasons Everyone Should Be Furious About Trayvon Martins Murder, in which, as Abramson explains, BuzzFeed simply lifted what it needed from reports published elsewhere, repackaged the information, and presented it in a way that emphasized sentiment and celebrity. BuzzFeed makes a distinction between BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed News, just as newspapers and magazines draw distinctions between their print and their digital editions. These distinctions are lost on most readers. BuzzFeed News covered the Trayvon Martin story, but its information, like BuzzFeeds, came from Reuters and the Associated Press. Even as news organizations were pruning reporters and editors, Facebook was pruning its users news, with the commercially appealing but ethically indefensible idea that people should see only the news they want to see. In 2013, Silicon Valley began reading its own online newspaper, the Information, its high-priced subscription peddled to the information lite, following the motto Quality stories breed quality subscribers. Facebooks goal, Zuckerberg explained in 2014, was to build the perfect personalized newspaper for every person in the world. Ripples at Facebook create tsunamis in newsrooms. The ambitious news site Mic relied on Facebook to reach an audience through a video program called Mic Dispatch, on Facebook Watch; last fall, after Facebook suggested that it would drop the program, Mic collapsed. Every time Facebook News tweaks its algorithmtweaks made for commercial, not editorial, reasonsnews organizations drown in the undertow. An automated Facebook feature called Trending Topics, introduced in 2014, turned out to mainly identify junk as trends, and so news curators, who tended to be recent college graduates, were given a new, manual mandate, massage the algorithm, which meant deciding, themselves, which stories mattered. A lot of that was stuff on Trending Topics. (Last year, Facebook discontinued the feature.) BuzzFeed surpassed the Times Web site in reader traffic in 2013. BuzzFeed News is subsidized by BuzzFeed, which, like many Web sitesincluding, at this point, those of most major news organizationsmakes money by way of native advertising, ads that look like articles. In some publications, these fake stories are easy to spot; in others, theyre not. At BuzzFeed, theyre in the same font as every other story. BuzzFeeds native-advertising bounty meant that BuzzFeed News had money to pay reporters and editors, and it began producing some very good and very serious reporting, real news having become something of a luxury good. By 2014, BuzzFeed employed a hundred and fifty journalists, including many foreign correspondents. It was obsessed with Donald Trumps rumored Presidential bid, and followed him on what it called the fake campaign trail as early as January, 2014. It used to be the New York Times, now its BuzzFeed, Trump said, wistfully. The world has changed. At the time, Steve Bannon was stumping for Trump on Breitbart. Left or right, a Trump Presidency was just the sort of story that could rack up the LOLs, OMGs, and WTFs. It still is. In March, 2014, the Times produced an Innovation Report, announcing that the newspaper had fallen behind in the art and science of getting our journalism to readers, a field led by BuzzFeed. That May, Sulzberger fired Abramson, who had been less than all-in about the Times doing things like running native ads. Meanwhile, BuzzFeed purged from its Web site more than four thousand of its early stories. Its stuff made at a time when people were really not thinking of themselves as doing journalism, Ben Smith explained. Not long afterward, the Times began running more lists, from book recommendations to fitness tips to takeaways from Presidential debates. The Times remains unrivalled. It staffs bureaus all over the globe and sends reporters to some of the worlds most dangerous places. It has more than a dozen reporters in China alone. Nevertheless, BuzzFeed News became more like the Times, and the Times became more like BuzzFeed, because readers, as Chartbeat announced on its endlessly flickering dashboards, wanted lists, and luxury porn, and people to hate. O.K., toss and turn and sigh so loud that I have to wake up and ask you whats wrong. The Guardian, founded as the Manchester Guardian in 1821, has been held by a philanthropic trust since 1936, which somewhat insulates it from market forces, just as Jeff Bezoss ownership now does something similar for the Post. By investing in digital-readership research from the time Rusbridger took charge, in 1995, the Guardian became, for a while, the online market leader in the U.K. By 2006, two-thirds of its digital readers were outside the U.K. In 2007, the Guardian undertook what Rusbridger calls the Great Integration, pulling its Web and print parts together into a single news organization, with the same editorial management. The Guardians own success is mixed. As of 2018, it was in the black, partly by relying on philanthropy, especially in the U.S. Reader revenue, in the form of donations marked not as subscriptions but as voluntary memberships, is expected to overtake advertising revenue before long. Raising money from people who care about journalism has allowed the Guardian to keep the Web site free. Its also broken some big stories, from the Murdoch-papers phone-hacking scoop to the saga of Edward Snowden, and provided riveting coverage of ongoing and urgent stories, especially climate change. But, for all its fine reporting and substantive Long Reads, the paper consists disproportionately of ideologically unvarying opinion essays. By some measures, journalism entered a new, Trumpian, gold-plated age during the 2016 campaign, with the Trump bump, when news organizations found that the more they featured Trump the better their Chartbeat numbers, which, arguably, is a lot of what got him elected. The bump swelled into a lump and, later, a malignant tumor, a carcinoma the size of Cleveland. Within three weeks of the election, the Times added a hundred and thirty-two thousand new subscribers. (This effect hasnt extended to local papers.) News organizations all over the world now advertise their services as the remedy to Trumpism, and to fake news; fighting Voldemort and his Dark Arts is a good way to rake in readers. And scrutiny of the Administration has produced excellent work, the very best of journalism. How President Trump Is Saving Journalism, a 2017 post on Forbes.com, marked Trump as the Nixon to todays rising generation of Woodwards and Bernsteins. Superb investigative reporting is published every day, by news organizations both old and new, including BuzzFeed News. By the what-doesnt-kill-you line of argument, the more forcefully Trump attacks the press, the stronger the press becomes. Unfortunately, thats not the full story. All kinds of editorial decisions are now outsourced to Facebooks News Feed, Chartbeat, or other forms of editorial automation, while the hands of many flesh-and-blood editors are tied to so many algorithms. For one reason and another, including twenty-first-century journalisms breakneck pace, stories now routinely appear that might not have been published a generation ago, prompting contention within the reportorial ranks. In 2016, when BuzzFeed News released the Steele dossier, many journalists disapproved, including CNNs Jake Tapper, who got his start as a reporter for the Washington City Paper. It is irresponsible to put uncorroborated information on the Internet, Tapper said. Its why we did not publish it, and why we did not detail any specifics from it, because it was uncorroborated, and thats not what we do. The Times veered from its normal practices when it published an anonymous opinion essay by a senior official in the Trump Administration. And The New Yorker posted a story online about Brett Kavanaughs behavior when he was an undergraduate at Yale, which Republicans in the Senate pointed to as evidence of a liberal conspiracy against the nominee. Theres plenty of room to argue over these matters of editorial judgment. Reasonable people disagree. Occasionally, those disagreements fall along a generational divide. Younger journalists often chafe against editorial restraint, not least because their cohort is far more likely than senior newsroom staff to include people from groups that have been explicitly and viciously targeted by Trump and the policies of his Administration, a long and growing list that includes people of color, women, immigrants, Muslims, members of the L.G.B.T.Q. community, and anyone with family in Haiti or any of the other countries Trump deems shitholes. Sometimes younger people are courageous and sometimes they are heedless and sometimes those two things are the same. The more woke staff thought that urgent times called for urgent measures, Abramson writes, and that the dangers of Trumps presidency obviated the old standards. Still, by no means is the divide always or even usually generational. Abramson, for instance, sided with BuzzFeed News about the Steele dossier, just as she approves of the use of the word lie to refer to Trumps lies, which, by the Posts reckoning, came at the rate of more than a dozen a day in 2018. The broader problem is that the depravity, mendacity, vulgarity, and menace of the Trump Administration have put a lot of people, including reporters and editors, off their stride. The present crisis, which is nothing less than a derangement of American life, has caused many people in journalism to make decisions they regret, or might yet. In the age of Facebook, Chartbeat, and Trump, legacy news organizations, hardly less than startups, have violated or changed their editorial standards in ways that have contributed to political chaos and epistemological mayhem. It often feels like the latter. Sometimes what doesnt kill you doesnt make you stronger; it makes everyone sick. The more adversarial the press, the more loyal Trumps followers, the more broken American public life. The more desperately the press chases readers, the more our press resembles our politics. The problems are well understood, the solutions harder to see. Good reporting is expensive, but readers dont want to pay for it. The donation-funded ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force, employs more than seventy-five journalists. Good reporting is slow, good stories unfold, and most stories that need telling dont involve the White House. The Correspondent, an English-language version of the Dutch Web site De Correspondent, is trying to unbreak the news. It wont run ads. It wont collect data (or, at least, not much). It wont have subscribers. Like NPR, it will be free for everyone, supported by members, who pay what they can. We want to radically change what news is about, how it is made, and how it is funded, its founders state. It will stay above the fray. It might sometimes be funny. Its slated to dbut sometime in 2019. Aside from the thing about ads, it sounds a lot like a magazine, when magazines came in the mail.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/01/28/does-journalism-have-a-future?mbid=synd_digg

Can Tencent Music Stock Bounce Back in 2019?

One of last year's more disappointing IPOs was Tencent Music Entertainment (NYSE: TME), but China's leading streaming music service is starting to make waves. The stock that has been a broken IPO since its third day of trading -- falling below last month's initial $13 price tag -- roared back with its biggest daily gain on Friday. A few analysts initiating bullish calls on the stock last week may be helping, but Chinese growth stocks bouncing back into fancy is the real driver. Investors are starting to get into a good groove with the streaming giant that controls roughly 75% of China's music streaming consumption. The key now is building on Friday's hearty 11% gain. A young woman listening to music on white-and-pink headphones. More Image source: Getty Images. Pumping up the volume A number of major Wall Street pros kicked off their coverage of Tencent Music Entertainment last week. HSBC initiated coverage with a buy rating and a $16 price target. Alex Yao at JPMorgan is also going with a $16 price goal. He is tagging the shares with an overweight call. He sees Tencent Music Entertainment as one of his coverage universe's most sustainable growth names. KeyBanc analyst Hans Chung has a more ambitious $19 price target, and naturally an overweight rating. Piyush Mubayi at Goldman Sachs initiated with a buy call and a target price of $18.20. Not all of the new calls were bullish, however. Hanjoon Kim at Deutsche Bank and John Egbert at Stifel are initiating neutral hold ratings on the stock with price targets of $14.50 and $14, respectively. It's important not to read too much into last week's six initiations. All of the analysts served as underwriters for last month's IPO. The shares spent most of last week hovering near its IPO price, so it would be a shock if they weren't all bullish or at least neutral. They just convinced some of their best clients to load up on the stock at $13 in last month's IPO, and they're not going to turn on the stock as long as the fundamentals remain intact. Tencent Music Entertainment is in a good place. The timing of its IPO certainly could've been better, but the fundamentals have all the traits of a market darling. The company operates all four of China's most popular streaming music apps. It draws an audience of more than 800 million unique monthly active users across all of its platforms, and listeners are pretty loyal. The average daily active user spends 70 minutes streaming. Music streaming isn't as compelling to investors as video. It's harder to stand out with differentiated content, the one thing that tends to set the video platforms apart. However, Tencent Music Entertainment isn't a slow grower despite dominating its niche. Revenue soared nearly 84% through the first nine months of last year with profitability more than tripling in that time. Chung at KeyBanc feels that it's still early in Tencent Music Entertainment's growth story. He sees revenue potentially soaring sixfold a decade from now and margins expanding as it's able to use its market leadership to negotiate more lucrative label deals and improve the monetization of its industry-leading usage. Tencent Music Entertainment deserves better than last month's chilly market reception, especially since it's generating less than a third of its revenue directly from its music services. The lion's share of the high-margin revenue is coming from social entertainment services, led primarily by the virtual gifts that users can bestow musical acts and other active users. Wall Street and Tencent Music Entertainment got off on the wrong foot last month, but now it seems as if the two are finally playing in the same key. More From The Motley Fool Rick Munarriz owns shares of Tencent Music Entertainment Group. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/tencent-music-stock-bounce-back-140500878.html

Could Russell Wilson and the Seahawks consider the uncommon contract path of Tom Brady?

Maybe, but it's hard to think they'd be this consistently excellent. Ive heard it talked about some. And Im sure its been thought about often. By fans. By the Seahawks. By the quarterback himself. Serious question. But complicated, too. If you havent noticed, a QBs paycheck can barely fit in the bank these days. Aaron Rodgers averages $33.5 million annually, Matt Ryan makes $30 million and Kirk Cousins $28 million. Given that Wilson, 30, just had another great season and owns the second-best passer rating ever (behind Rodgers), he might end up receiving a $35 million-a-year extension offer before the season begins. Seeing that its nearly impossible to compete for a championship without an elite quarterback, yeah, it is probably. Business Insider recently estimated that Tom Brady has given up about $60 million over his career so that the Patriots can fill their needs in other areas on the roster. Now, hes about to play in his ninth Super Bowl after his 16th 10-win season. Maybe, but its hard to think theyd be this consistently excellent. And seeing how Brady still has earned more than $200 million over his career, its hard to think hes missing the money when hes considered the best to ever play. (That and the fact that his wife is the breadwinner.) But just because Brady made a decision doesnt mean Wilson or any other player should follow suit. Football is the most violent team sport in the world, and can snatch up a career with one big hit. This is why Earl Thomas sat out of training camp and complained about not getting an extension offer before breaking his leg in Week 4. This is why Kam Chancellor, however irrationally, sat out the first two games of the 2015 season. Regardless of profession, regardless of pay scale, you cant begrudge someone for getting every penny of what theyre worth. Even if its a ridiculous figure like $35 million, its still $35 million that they earned. Still, its worth pointing out a recent Washington Post article, which showed that the six highest paid quarterbacks in the league all missed the playoffs this year. Theres nuance to this, as one of those QBs was the injured Jimmy Garoppolo, and the seventh-highest paid was Drew Brees, whose Saints had the best regular season in the NFL. But the data cant be dismissed outright. The dream scenario for most GMs is a stud quarterback on a rookie contract. You can build around those guys with particularly shiny objects. The Eagles won a Super Bowl last year with second-year QB Carson Wentz behind center most the season, and the Rams and Chiefs are set up nicely with Jared Goff and Patrick Mahomes. Of course, that doesnt mean you cant win big games after shelling out big bucks for a quarterback. The Broncos were one of the best teams in football after signing Peyton Manning, and won a Super Bowl against the Panthers after Cam Newton was extended. You need a top-tier QB in this league to win, and the Seahawks need to keep Wilson. No one is questioning that. And if Wilson does sign a $35 million deal, he shouldnt hear a cry of criticism even if hes in the midst of an $87 million contract right now. Just know that, from Frank Clark to Bobby Wagner, there are some expensive pieces the Seahawks need to hold on to in order to stay competitive. If they cant pay the guys they want to, Pete Carroll and John Schneider basically have to nail the draft. Sure. Definitely. I dont think its ones place to say how another man should handle money. Whether its Wilson or any other athlete, entertainer or entrepreneur its that persons life and that persons family. Plus, you dont want to create a scenario where future quarterbacks feel pressure to take less for fear of looking selfish. Its interesting to think about, though. Brady is a couple weeks away from trying to win his sixth Super Bowl for a team that made 13 AFC championship games in 18 years. Ridiculous. But while some would argue that Bradys right arm has been the Patriots most valuable asset, it might actually be his right hand. You know, the one that signs the contracts.

https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/calkins-column-on-wilson-contract/?utm_source=RSS&utm_medium=Referral&utm_campaign=RSS_all

Why Is Everyone In Such A Lather Over Gillette's "Toxic Masculinity" Ad?

Gillettes We Believe spot that highlights toxic masculinity has aroused a ton of attention (over 22 million views on YouTube as of this writing) as surely the company hoped. And predictably, haters gonna hate a lot of the reactions are negative. Its almost as if a major company took a stand on a highly divisive social issue even though it knew it would alienate a lot of customers. Oh wait; Nike's Colin Kaepernick ad recently did that. The company courageously withstood a boycott -- and by some accounts a $6 billion increase in revenues. Thatll teach them to link their brand to a controversial topic. The Gillette ad elicits two types of negative responses: Type #1. How dare you impugn men and further demonize our God-given right to be alpha males? A good representative of this genre is the Fox commentator who wrote, Enough with the gender shaming, Gillette. Before too long, theyll be telling us to shave our legs. This would actually be a genius move on P&Gs part, given how many more blades we would have to buy to keep our legs smooth as well as our faces. Type #2. Just tell me you make the best razor. Im not interested in your opinions about the meanings of masculinity. This tweet is typical of that genre: Just sell some damn razors and keep your social justice stupidity out of it. I cant say much about the testosterone crowd that falls into Type #1. I guess if youre not part of the solution, youre part of the problem. But I can address Type #2, insofar as this reaction raises the fundamental question of what a brand should or should not be. If anyone (especially a marketing professional) thinks that Gillette just makes razors, Starbucks just makes coffee, or Nike just makes shoes, I respectfully suggest its time to take a course on consumer behavior (Im happy to oblige). When youre back in school, be sure to pay attention when your professor starts to talk about lifestyle marketing. Hopefully youll understand that a successful brand embodies much more than the tangible goods (or intangible services) that bear its logo. A brands architecture is built around meanings, values, and yes, sociopolitical statements. Especially in todays postmodern consumer culture, ignore this axiom at your own peril: We dont buy products because of what they do. We buy them because of what they mean. Every product needs a value proposition, and if consumers choose it, that proposition essentially is a story that resonates with them. The item is merely a physical expression of the brands underlying narrative. Sure, sometimes were tempted to buy an alternative just because its cheaper which is why Gillette is so worried about prevailing in the "shaving wars Million Dollar Shave Club and other challengers are waging. But once we move beyond a value-oriented segment, the real battles are to capture consumers hearts and minds, not just their jowls. The threats Gillette sees in its rearview mirror are exactly why this hallowed brand needs to make a stand. If it competes on price alone, the brand is destined to have the value of a discarded razor blade. The act of shaving fundamentally links to gender identity, so Gillettes blades (or Harrys, et al) are merely a tool that allows of the population to give physical form to an underlying ideal. Tools can easily be replaced, but narratives cannot. To invoke a timeworn yet still-valid marketing clich, A company sells a nail. A consumer buys a 3/4 hole. Never underestimate the markets ability to produce alternative ways to create that hole. We see this clearly when we look at a mans beard and what it signifies. Beards were a no-no for over a century; in the early to mid-1800s people commonly associated them with socialists and others on the margins of society. Friedrich Engels (who co-authored The Communist Manifesto with Karl Marx) once sponsored a moustache evening to taunt the clean-shaven members of the bourgeois class. Then in the latter part of the century the beard movement came into fashion as the Gold Rush and the Civil War made shaving optional; and some rebelled against a world of woman-faced men. As Robber Barons like full-bearded Jay Gould and Andrew Carnegie flouted their millions, beards now became linked to rich capitalists. The pendulum swung yet again, however, as workers rebellions evoked images of bearded men committing violent acts against their bosses. King C. Gillette invented the safety razor in 1901, and the clean-shaven look was back. Now, the pendulum has moved again: Googles co-founder Sergey Brin, Goldman Sachss chief executive, Lloyd C. Blankfein, and Marc Benioff, the billionaire founder and chief executive of Salesforce, all sport prominent facial hair. So, even a mans decision to shave or not to shave (that is the question) is not necessarily linked to the same underlying meanings as time goes on. Gillette needs to keep its brand narrative relevant, and it looks like its gambling on riding the #MeToo wave. The immediate, cynical response is to note that were all talking about Gillette instead of Dollar or Harrys question answered. But more fundamentally, Gillette is making hay out of its brand architecture: Although it has done its part in the past to promote the very toxic masculinity it now criticizes, the brand now has the opportunity to resurrect its hallowed tagline but to update it with a slight change of emphasis. Its no longer The best a man can GET. Now, its The BEST a man can get. The devil is in the details.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelrsolomon/2019/01/22/why-is-everyone-in-such-a-lather-over-gillettes-toxic-masculinity-ad/

How Is Blockchain And Artificial Intelligence Changing The Face Of Asset Management?

Asset management has a rich and traditional past that has helped build many people's fortunes over the years; many of the worlds uber-rich have their backgrounds in hedge funds and other forms of smart asset management. However, like everything at this juncture in time, there is a change in the wind and asset management is not immune. The access to funds, and investing opportunities have been opened up and become more inclusive. But with that, there has been a demand for better performance or lower fees from this new breed of investor. Large mutual funds were used to getting away with charging annual fees of 2-4 percent, despite average or poor performance as they had the backing of an institutionalised elite. Nowadays, those that are looking to participate in the market have moved en masse away from these types of investments and instead focused on very low fee, index-based, managers. The demand increase for these types of funds and management has caused intense competition to develop as there is far more option and ease when it comes shifting money and investments around. For this reason, asset management has had to start looking forward rather than languishing on its stuffy past. Big Data, Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence are all tools that are starting to find their feet in the asset management market as different companies and managers look to utilise these different burgeoning technologies to give themselves a competitive edge. Successful asset management services are reliant on vast amounts of data, so it immediately makes sense that the science behind Big Data and the analytical power that comes with it be pointed towards asset management. More so, Big Data is fuel for AI and as such, it can not only provide descriptive market insights but can also recommend prescriptive actions for future to maximise return on investment based on proper data fed to it. Then there is Blockchain which is also starting to show its collaborative powers within data services and its affiliation with these other technologies, such as AI and IoT. Thus, the tokenisation and distributed ledger that blockchain offers makes complete sense in this financial space of asset management. Understanding the need to evolve Asset, or wealth, management is a term that was first seen in 1933, and since then it has been slowly evolving and changing - but always looking to deliver the same outcome for customers. Asset management has also grown in recent times where major banks and financial institutions have come in to offer services while hedge funds are also playing a huge role. But, the capitalist and elite nature of this investing ecosystem has always been quite exclusionary and closed-minded, a standpoint which is no longer so freely accepted. The general global trend has become far more inclusionary regardless of the sector, but especially when it comes to wealth and access to money. Edgar Radjabli, the Managing Partner of Apis Capital Management, an asset management company that is utilising blockchain and AI in their services, explains how things are changing, out of necessity. Traditional asset management is changing because investors are demanding better performance or lower fees, explains Radjabli. In the past, large mutual funds could get away with charging annual fees of 2-4%, yet continued to underperform the market. As a result, for those that are looking to simply participate in the market, they have moved in masses away from these types of investments and focused on very low fee, index-based managers. That being said, higher net worth investors who can invest in hedge funds are looking for funds that significantly and consistently outperform the market. To do so, those asset managers need to develop strategies that are more advanced than ever, and that is where AI comes in. In the past, asset managers would create strategies from backtested data and let them run, hoping that what worked in the past will continue to work. Alternatively, they rely too much on discretionary trading, lacking a clear and consistent direction and making them prone to human mistakes and breakdown in discipline or risk management. The demands of the investor, be they participatory first-timers or even hardened veterans throwing large sums of money around, have certainly gotten higher. The result are sought, and those results are just not coming from traditional methods, but the reliance on new technologies is helping. Radjabli adds how blockchain is also playing its part: Blockchain technology also offers the opportunity for asset managers to implement innovative administrative protocols. Typically, asset managers use a third party administrator to record ownership of shares or LP interests by investors. This can make it difficult to administer huge numbers of shareholders. Blockchain technology allows this because all ownership is registered by an immutable, independent and permanent ledger. Also, blockchain protocols like Stellar allow an investor to hold multiple Asset Tokens in one account. So they could easily be invested in a hedge fund like Apis, a piece of real estate in NYC, a gold mine, and a startup company. Until now, this was not possible because all of those investments would be administered separately. Moving with the times It is not only Radjabli and Apis that are seeing this, but companies on the scale of IBM have also started dipping into new technology to aid in asset management offerings. IBM have recently introduced the Maximo Network on blockchain, a product designed to complement the industry leading asset management capabilities already offered by Maximo (an Enterprise Asset Management tool that lets an individual maintain all asset types, check their health in real time and streamline global operations, from procurement to contract management - this is also done utilising IoT) IBM state their reasons why blockchain specifically can enhance asset management. Firstly, they believe it enables open collaboration, creates asset and transaction transparency and finally, enforces consistency. This is also backed up by Radjabli, who identifies much of blockchains power, regardless of sector, when it comes to simplifying and making operations more efficient. He also touches on the power that AI has in helping with creating investing strategies that are dynamic. Blockchain is perfectly suited for asset management to simplify administration and reduce costs, as well as provide innovative asset structures that maximise investor returns. AI provides the opportunity to build "evolving strategies" which consistently read and digest new market data, Radjabli adds. Still work to be done. Of course, like most other sectors that are looking to utilise and implement new and emerging technologies, there is still a long way to go in making them the industry standard, but it is clear that the likes of AI and blockchain have a place in this industry. There have already been attempts to upgrade and advance the asset management industry, but in comparison to what AI and blockchain can offer, these advancements seem a little superficial and quite specialised. There has been a rise in so-called robo-advisors which are attempting to automate the investing process. These robo-advisors are based on Modern Portfolio Theory and the Efficient Market Hypothesis and use a method to determine exactly how to invest on your behalf. While there are often times when these automated investors are successful, they are not an all-encompassing answer and appear to be more of a stop-gap while right technologies acclimatise to the asset management market. Robo advisors are not really AI or blockchain, says Radjabli. While they have a great place as a cheap automated way to invest in the broad stock market, and certainly are better than mutual funds, they do not provide any long term performance benefits. The more interesting implementation of AI, specifically machine learning, is for innovative asset managers who are building evolving strategies that learn to adapt to the market, and generate better long term returns than "pre-packaged" strategies that are just based on back-tested data or traditional economics. A tokenised future Another benefit of blockchain that perhaps is still also a long way off is the tokenisation of assets. Already we are seeing instances where traditional investment assets are being tokenised on the blockchain to make the management of these assets far more accessible and efficient. There is no doubt that tokenisation will come more and more into play in the financial sector, including investing and asset management, once the regulatory standpoint has been found. Radjabli agrees with the above, adding that those who use the other benefits of emerging technology along with the tokenisation will be able to offer the most attractive options to investors. The future of Asset Management will move towards investments being offered as Asset Tokens, rather than being administered by specialised administrators on their own ledgers (although the administrators will not go away, they will adapt their systems to use blockchain). The future of high performing hedge funds inevitable will favour those that incorporate AI and machine learning to build "evolving strategies' that learn from the present and will outperform traditional buy and hold or passive investing, he concludes.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/darrynpollock/2019/01/22/how-is-blockchain-and-artificial-intelligence-changing-the-face-of-asset-management/

Is DCP Midstream a Buy?

Last year was a roller coaster for DCP Midstream (NYSE: DCP). Units of the midstream master limited partnership (MLP) were up more than 25% at one point before plunging to end the year, finishing down more than 25%. As a result of that sell-off, DCP Midstream now has a cheaper valuation and a higher yield that's currently up to 9.3%. While that payout certainly looks attractive, income seekers need to know that this high yield comes with a higher risk profile. In light of that, it might not be the best option for their portfolio. Two men holding signs with arrows pointing up and down with buy and sell written above them. More Image source: Getty Images. Drilling down into DCP Midstream DCP Midstream is one of the largest gathering and processing companies in the country, with operations spanning across several fast-growing oil and gas producing regions, including the Permian Basin, DJ Basin, and STACK/SCOOP play of Oklahoma. It's also one of the largest producers of natural gas liquids (NGLs). What sets the company apart from many others in the midstream sector is how it makes its money. While most midstream MLPs mainly collect fee-based income as volumes flow through their systems, a significant portion of DCP Midstream's revenue comes from commodity-based margins, which is the difference between what it pays for a raw commodity like liquids-rich natural gas and the price it sells higher-valued products like NGLs. Those margins tend to ebb and flow with commodity prices, which can have a big impact on DCP Midstream's cash flow. Overall, DCP Midstream gets about 60% of its earnings from fee-based assets and the other 40% from margin-based activities. That's a much higher percentage than most midstream companies, which target getting less than 15% of their income from commodity margins. While DCP Midstream uses hedging contracts to cut its commodity price exposure in half, it still has greater exposure to price volatility than most peers. Last year's plunge in oil prices sent units of DCP Midstream plummeting since those lower prices will have a negative impact on the company's cash flow. A gas pipeline under construction. More Image source: Getty Images. Working hard to reduce this exposure In addition to hedging half of its commodity price exposure, DCP Midstream has taken several other steps to reduce the risk that a prolonged slump in commodity prices would force the company to cut its lucrative dividend to investors. One way it has done that is by maintaining conservative financial metrics. For example, the company covered its distribution by a healthy 1.35 times during the third quarter, which is well above the 1.2 times target of most MLPs. In addition, DCP Midstream's leverage ratio stood at a comfortable 3.6, while many peers aim for a leverage ratio of 4.

https://news.yahoo.com/dcp-midstream-buy-154900464.html

Where Do Account People Go?

Last year, I examined my Linkedin network to see where my creative peers had gone with their advertising careers. The analysis and its results were surprising to me, plus I got back in touch with folks I hadnt spoken to in decades. Several were surprised I could now do math. This year, I tackle the same exercise with my account management friends, combing through connections to see where people have gone, how many are still at agencies, at consultancies, or moved on to other roles. Research sample: Of my 1,900+ connections, ~120 were account executives when I first met them. As in the creative study, I only consider people with 15 years minimum experience in the industry. Obviously, my statistics are biased towards my experiences and the people and firms with whom I spent the most time. I then did eight interviews to understand why and give context. Here are my findings: Theyre still in agencies. About 50% of account people in my network are still in classically-named advertising, marketing, media or digital agencies, such as Ogilvy, BBDO, R/GA, Digitas, Horizon or Merkle. Thats a bit lower than I expected. Another 8% have gone to media platforms such as Amazon, Facebook or Essence. Only about 6% started their own firm, which is lower than the creatives (14%). About 8% are currently independent consultants, substantially lower than creatives. Theyre also at the consultancies. As you can read in any trade, a fair number of folks (12% in my roster) have moved to a consulting firm like I have. Many of my peers, from creative to planning to account management, are now at Accenture, Deloitte or its owned agencies and several others at IBM and PWC. So if you count these as agencies, then youve really got a whopping 62% still at agencies and, adding in those contracting as indies, almost 70% in account roles. Theyre the client. 22% of my network of former account managers, however, have gone client-side to a major marketer or a marketing role at a non-profit, far higher than creatives, but lower than some I interviewed expected. Two people told me they were asked by their clients to join their organization, which is surely a sign youre doing something right. About 11 are currently Chief Marketing Officers, and several more have been in the last five years. A fair number are at non-profits or brands focused on a passion or purpose. You'll hear from several of these now-clients down below. They shifted roles. At agencies and client-side, I found a large number of folks taking on different roles than traditional account or brand management, though, admittedly still in a marketing context. For example, several run operations or serve as chief digital officer or work in research. One is a chief innovation officer. One is an ethnographer. One is an executive recruiter. One is in HR. One, however, is an investigator at the FCC. As with the creative talent research, I wanted to hear from several who made shifts: Adam Gargani was an account supervisor when I was a baby copywriter at FCB/Leber Katz. We worked on Rayovac batteries, making TV, radio, print, coupon ads and even early e-commerce. Now Adam leads EVergreen 9, a research and brand consultancy. For him, it wasnt actually a career change into research, but a "natural path of my professional development. On the accounts I worked, I spent more time developing strategy and understanding markets than producing advertising." Allison Knapp Womack has worked in account management at multiple agencies, including Wunderman, Ogilvy and Doremus, where she was president of the New York office before becoming the global strategy officer. She credits the confluence of three factors agency experience + business school + outside board positions on finding what would be next for her. Shes now CMO of Enterprise Community Partners, which delivers capital, programs and advocacy for affordable housing. Her financial services and nonprofit clients were a great background to have, and so was her volunteer board work in international development, children's rights and equality for girls. Allison's answer to when you know its time to switch: "When your volunteer work becomes more compelling than your day job, its telling. Paul Suchman has held senior account and strategy roles at WPP and Omnicom and was global CMO of commercial real estate icon CBRE. Pauls trajectory has been all B2B, also including technology, financial services, professional services, and manufacturing. He sees a lot of parallels among them complex challenges, disparate business lines, global footprint, competing agendas. Done well, he says, Creativity and strategy become a secret weapon for these organizations. He sees differences not just in culture between corporate and agency, but in career fit. "When youre an agency person, youre the consummate undergraduate. You work on a portfolio of accounts and you change your focus depending which client is most important that day. When you become the CMO, you have picked a major. Pauls advice is to make the decision by mid-career if you want to be a consummate undergrad or declare a major. Rich Kim worked on the Cisco Systems team at Ogilvy with me. He stayed for 10 years, transitioning from account management to strategy and planning. There, his activities, conversations and deliverables were more embedded in a CMO context, which made it a natural shift to client-side brand marketing at Hulu. Now hes a director of marketing at Amazon Prime Video doing a lot in social, media and measurement (and where theyre obviously having quite an awards season!). Rich sees account management roles as a plus on multiple fronts: first, it's great for client service (i.e., no matter where you are, you have clients); secondly, it helps you learn to be a good operator, with an ability to execute. Marketers can struggle when they don't understand the creative process or experience first-hand things even as specific as production issues, musical licensing, and more. Third, from his time on the other side of the table, he thinks he can now help get the best out of agencies. Interestingly, while my stats were just 22% who went client-side, Richs instinct is that the client-side marketing world is more like 50% of people with agency account experience. Andrea Derby and I worked together on the British Airways business at Ogilvy, and then she went to BBDO. Shes now Director of Advertising and Brand at UPS. There is such a great opportunity to make a business impact on the client side. And working at agencies is great training for client roles. Agencies teach you how to lead and collaborate. And they also give you a creative foundation that leaves you curious and always looking for new ways to solve challenges. Susan Chung, former Chief Operating Officer at HNW, a marketing technology firm, was one of the colleagues I spoke to who had made one of the bigger shifts, deep into the operations of a company, farther from classic account management. For her, it was an evolution not a stretch, an opportunity to flex other muscles. "In account management, you are fundamentally running a business within a business managing client/customer relationships, dealing with staffing issues, monitoring budgets and profitability so making the transition into a larger operations role was really about changing my mindset and priorities of the job. While its admittedly far more common to get promoted from finance into key operational roles, the challenges when she met HNW were more growth-oriented rather than fiscal management. Her advice since there are so many interesting opportunities out there: Be open minded about job titles, especially since there are new ones being created every day. Think about the things you love to do when you are at your best and focus more on the responsibilities and the role within the organization. And I wanted to talk understand sticking with account management: I first asked Julie DeAngelis, now at TBWA/Chiat/Day. "My job in account management is to be a connector internally and with clients, she said, "and the agency model fosters that so well. The range of clients has also been appealing for her, across categories, for-profits and non-profits, Fortune 100 companies and smaller ones. "Ive learned something from all of them. My last question was around advice for others. "When youre earlier in your career, money, title and cach can play a big part in where you work," she said. "Im so much more interested in the culture of my agency whats important to them, how do they treat their employees, who do they want to work with. Marketing and advertising is so beyond a 9-6 job that you need to be invested in your work it needs to be your passion. Lastly, I rang my friend John Dunleavy. John is the account persons account person a business-led client partner with a heart for creative. From spirits to software, hes led accounts at Publicis, Grey, Saatchi & Saatchi, McCann and is now Global President of Team IBM at WPP. Hes a wise and candid voice for why account people might want stay as account people. John came into the business for the lunches and stayed for the creativity. What he means is that in London, Saatchi was the it" agency and advertising was glamorous and fun for your career in your 20s. At some point, though, you get serious he said, and when he moved to the states, he started working with David Droga at Publicis. "Its the first time I engaged with serious creative people [with ideas] who not only impacted a clients business but also popular culture and society overall Now the last decade working in tech, hes found that hes working with brands that can impact society if they choose to. "As an agency partner, you have an opportunity to do that. Note: John doesnt like the term account management. He prefers "Business Leadership." Thats what you should be doing. "Strategy and creative have become more important and clients are happy to pay for these because they see value here." To John, its up to good account people to reassert themselves and the role to add real value. Account folk are different. This exercise revealed to me, at least through my reporting, that the differences between creative and account management career paths are significant. In addition to the stronger entrepreneurial instincts of creatives setting up their own shops, I saw more intentional choices by account people. Creative folks are often still in creative because they havent figured out yet what else to do. Account executives who still are account executives really like the problem-solving and their role in the business. They build highly transferrable skills, with the mindset a critical asset to different environments and settings. All this seems to make it easier to constantly tackle different challenges, embrace and find a voice in technology's changing part or move to the client side. Tweet 'em at me.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/matzucker/2019/01/22/account-people/

What is an airsoft gun? Are they legal in Arizona?

CLOSE The Arizona Republic enhanced this footage of Antonio Arce's, 14, shooting by a Tempe police officer. Arizona Republic A non-lethal airsoft gun is at the center of the controversial Tempe police shooting of 14-year-old Antonio Arce. Police have said the boy stole the gun from a vehicle and ran from police. A Tempe officer chased Arce down an alley and shot him as he was running away. An airsoft gun often resembles a traditional firearm but shoots non-lethal, plastic pellets. They are used for target practice and military-style games, similar to paintball guns or BB guns. They are sometimes described as non-powder guns or imitation firearms. Federal law does not consider an airsoft gun to be a firearm, but it does have some regulations for them. Federal law requires these guns to be sold with an orange tip on its muzzle, distinguishing it from a lethal firearm. But states vary in their requirements about whether that orange tip must be kept on. Arizona has no state laws regulating the sale of airsoft guns. Tempe police said 14-year-old Antonio Arce carrying a replica 1911 airsoft gun when he was shot by an officer. Federal law requires individuals be 18 or older to purchase an airsoft gun, but does not regulate how old someone must be to use an airsoft gun. States and cities vary widely in their regulation of airsoft guns. In New York state, it's illegal for someone under 16 to possess an airsoft gun. In Minnesota, it's illegal for someone under 18 to have an airsoft gun without a parent's permission. Several states ban the devices on school grounds. RELATED: Boy shot by Tempe police didn't steal airsoft gun, truck owner says Arizona has no state laws regulating airsoft guns. Some municipalities do have regulations for air, spring or CO2 (carbon dioxide)-operated BB guns, pellet guns or slingshots. In Glendale, it's a Class 1 misdemeanor to discharge air guns or BB guns within city limits. Tempe does not have non-powdered gun codes. Tempe ordinances do state that an airgun is not a firearm. CLOSE Hundreds of people walk through the neighborhood where 14-year-old Antonio Arce was shot by a Tempe police officer earlier this week. Nathan J. Fish, The Republic | azcentral.com READ MORE: Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2019/01/22/what-airsoft-gun-tempe-police-shooting-antonio-arce/2633991002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/tempe/2019/01/22/what-airsoft-gun-tempe-police-shooting-antonio-arce/2633991002/

Is Corbus Pharmaceuticals a Buy?

For a while, investors were snapping up the stocks of any company remotely associated with marijuana, convinced investing in weed was the next way to get rich. Pot stocks cooled off in 2018, but certain companies working on cannabis-based drugs continue making steady progress on new therapies. Corbus Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: CRBP) is one such company -- a clinical-stage biotech that's developing drugs for rare inflammatory diseases that work by targeting the body's endocannibinoid system. Inflammatory and fibrotic, or scarring, diseases arise when the body's immune system goes out of control. Inflammation is the natural response to invasion or injury to the body, with the immune system working to clear the affected body part of pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. Once the cause of cell injury is removed, the body normally resolves the inflammation response. A bottle of pills More Image Source: Getty Images For reasons not completely understood, certain rare diseases cause the body to turn on the immune response without ever triggering the resolution process, and the ongoing inflammation causes tissue damage or even tissue death. The traditional approach to these diseases is to inhibit the inflammation response, but the downside is that in doing so, the immune system is suppressed, depriving the body of its natural defenses with potentially serious consequences. A new approach to inflammation Corbus' lead drug, lenabasum, takes a different approach by targeting the natural mechanism that resolves inflammation, effectively flipping the "off switch" for the process, rather than targeting the system that triggers and maintains the immune response. Corbus has been making progress in advancing lenabasum, formerly called resunab and anabasum, through clinical trials for treatment of four rare diseases: systemic sclerosis, dermatomyositis, cystic fibrosis, and lupus. The endocannabinoid system is the master regulator of inflammation in the body and includes two main receptors, designated CB1 and CB2. Lanabasum targets CB2 receptors, which are expressed on immune cells and, when activated, initiate a series of events that result in a shift from a production of pro-inflammatory mediators to production of pro-resolving mediators. Systemic sclerosis causes organ inflammation and fibrosis and is the most lethal of the systemic autoimmune diseases, with a 10-year mortality rate of up to 60%. There are about 200,000 patients with the disease in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, presenting a market opportunity for Corbus of between $1.4 billion and $2.2 billion. Phase 2 test results for lenabusam have been positive, with 87% of patients showing significant improvement. Corbus is currently conducting a phase 3 study for lenabasum in systemic sclerosis and expects data in 2020, with a commercial launch in 2021. Dermatomyositis is another rare and serious autoimmune disease that's characterized by skin and muscle inflammation and has a 30% five-year mortality rate. This condition represents a market opportunity of between $1 billion and $2 billion to treat 80,000 patients. Eighty-four percent of the participants in the phase 2 trial had a meaningful improvement, and a phase 3 trial has begun. There currently are no drugs targeting inflammation for sufferers of the progressive genetic disease of cystic fibrosis, and the 70,000 patients in Corbus' target markets represent a market opportunity of $700 million to $1 billion. Corbus is conducting a phase 2 trial measuring the effectiveness of lenabasum in reducing lung inflammation in cystic fibrosis patients, with data expected in 2020.

https://news.yahoo.com/corbus-pharmaceuticals-buy-171919391.html

Is Villanova, Maryland, Syracuse basketball for real?

More than two months into the season, the early results of November can start to feel like a lightyear away. Remember Duke's opening night rout of Kentucky, or how Ohio State was No. A lot has happened since then, and while a team like the Blue Devils continues to look like one of the nation's very best, others have used the time to grow since November and December slip-ups. For this week's roundtable, we gave our writers a list of 11 teams that either got off to a rough start or weren't on many people's radars in November and are now enjoying a strong January, and asked each to pick a few that they believe are for realor not. From defending champ Villanova to Ole Miss, here are their answers. Bracket Watch: Weekend of Drama Brings Change to Top Line Villanova Why Dan Greene Is Buying In: Yes, this season has been uncharacteristically uneven, and yes, given the Big East's depth, there will surely be a few losses to come. But the Wildcats' offense is coming together nicely (it's been the Big East's most efficient during league play) and they have been getting positive contributions of late from freshman point guard Jahvon Quinerly, who was such a nonfactor early that he's basically like a midseason acquisition. Plus I just trust in Jay Wright. They're still my Big East favorites until proven otherwise. Why Jake Fischer Remains Skeptical: It's difficult to believe in the defending champs, whose offense is still whirring at the 12th-highest efficiency per kenpom.com this season. The Wildcats just simply can't guard any offensive foe of substance, yielding 98.4 points per 100 possessions. Villanova's lineup has long featured four guards and one big man, but the Wildcats have trended even smaller this season, often playing Eric Paschall at the five in super-switchy lineups. Those units have failed miserably at protecting the rim. Villanova ranks a measly 136th in the nation block rate. And while Omari Spellman wasn't Hasheem Thabeet, it's a marked decline from a year ago. Sure enough, the Wildcats are 50 to open Big East play. And aside from human infernos Markus Howard and Shamorie Ponds, the conference doesn't have many threats to the reigning champions. This is by far one of the weaker teams Jay Wright has had in recent memory. Villanova will likely claim its league, but this team is not built for a long postseason run, whether it enters the Big Dance with a conference crown or an at large bid. Maryland Why Greene Is Buying In: Yes, the Terrapins just got shellacked in East Lansing, but that was their first loss by more than four all season and against an elite team. I'm still high on Maryland because a team this young (bottom-five nationally in experience, per kenpom) doesn't go on the kind of seven-game winning streak that the Terps just did if it's some kind of fluke. Bruno Fernando and Anthony Cowan are a legit inside/outside combo and despite turnover issues, Maryland has managed to be solid on both ends, which bodes well for sustainability. Marquette Why Max Meyer Is Buying In: Everyone knows about how lethal Marquettes offense can be, but the Golden Eagles defense is ranked 40th in adjusted defensive efficiency per kenpom.com. Marquette has one of the best scorers in the country in Markus Howard, but the Golden Eagles can also rely upon the Hauser brothers to help carry the load. Theyre especially boosted by strong shooting from the outside (38.7% from three, 24th nationally) and the FT line (76.4%, 14th), a huge plus for a team that plays in a good amount of close games. Why Jeremy Woo Remains Skeptical: Im into Markus Howards game, but as a unit Marquette can be streaky and lacks talent up front. I watched as St Johns bottled up Howard on New Years Day and left the Golden Eagles mostly helpless. Since then, theyve won a few tight games, but Im not sure they can hold together defensively and score enough when Howard has cooler nights to hang as a top-15 team. To me, they feel as mercurial as anyone. SI's 201819 Midseason All-America Team Purdue Why Molly Geary Is Buying In: The Boilermakers became a bit of an afterthought nationally after a 65 start, but theyre now 126 and all the way up to eighth on kenpom. Their only non-quality loss to date is still Notre Dame on a neutral court, which is far from a bad one. Still, Purdue entered 2019 having work to do, and so far in January its earned wins over Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana and Rutgers, three of which its directly battling in the Big Ten race. At 52 in the conferencewith only one game left against a Michigan schoolits in a good spot, and the recent emergence of freshman center Trevion Williams brings optimism to the Boilermakers finding more consistent scoring outside Carsen Edwards. With a top-10 offense and a dynamic go-to guy in Edwards, Purdue has the kind of profile that could make the Sweet 16 if things break right. Why Michael Shapiro Remains Skeptical: Its hard to count out the Boilermakers in any contest with scoring dynamo Carsen Edwards leading the way, but the rest of Purdues roster could make it difficult to string together victories in the Big Ten. Matt Painters squad doesnt have the same interior presence as last season with Isaac Haass departure, and the easy baskets are few and far between. Consider the Boilermakers a sizable step below Michigan and Michigan State atop the Big Ten. Iowa Why Greene Remains Skeptical: The Hawkeyes have been deadeye shooters of late, putting up a wow-worthy 83.0% effective field goal percentage against Illinois on Sunday, and they get to the line at the third-highest rate in the country, which provides a nice baseline for their offense. But it's the defense that has me wary: it ranks 13th among the Big Ten's 14 teams in conference play, and its two best showings against relevant opponents have been against a fading Ohio State and middling Northwestern. While Iowa will still end up a tournament team, I think the next few weeks in the Big Ten may be a bit cooler. Syracuse Why Shapiro Is Buying In: Even if you cast aside Jim Boeheims propensity for March magic, Syracuse still has enough talent to position itself well for a run to the second weekend of the NCAA tournament. The Oranges zone has suffocated opponents as usual in 201819, ranking No. 12 in the nation in defensive efficiency, per kenpom. Their offense isnt unwatchable, either. Syracuse scored 95 points in an overtime victory against Duke on Jan. 14, including 32 from leading scorer Tyus Battle. The Orange have won six of their last seven. Expect them to finish closer to the top of the ACC than the conference cellar. Why Woo Remains Skeptical: Beating Duke was obviously well-earned, but we go through this with Syracuse every year: the zone works in mysterious ways, but at the end of the day, the offense becomes an issue and more talented teams gain an edge. This could look stupid when they get a couple good breaks and end up in the Sweet 16, but Im skeptical the Orange can be consistent and efficient enough offensively to land in the top third of the ACC. Louisville Why Eric Single Is Buying In: Louisville has scored exactly 43 points in the first half of its past three games, all wins, which is more than a weird pattern: The Cardinals rapid return to a top-25 kenpom.com offensive efficiency rating in Chris Macks first year has put them in the thick of the ACC race and stressed out teams that that didnt sign up for a game in the 80s. Louisville is riding sophomore Jordan Nworas breakout year (18.5 points per game, 8.1 rebounds per game), and the 68 forward looks more than comfortable shouldering a massive load. He has taken 100 more shots than anyone else on the team and hasnt slowed down now that defenses know to give him their full attention, dropping 32 on Boston College and 25 on Georgia Tech last week. Macks first squad is going to hang around that logjam atop the ACC. On a serious note, at 144, the Huskies just might be the best bet to get that automatic bid, or even possibly challenge for an at-large one should they not win the conference tournament. Washington has started Pac-12 play 50, though its schedule is about to ramp up considerably. But this is an experienced team (it has the nations No. 1 minutes continuity) that took Gonzaga to the wire in Spokane and is strong on the defensive end, where it's anchored by reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year Matisse Thybulle. They say defense travels, and the Huskies have some solid offensive weapons as well, like Jaylen Nowell (16.7 points, 39.7% three-point shooting), Noah Dickerson (13.2 points, the nations second-best free throw rate) and David Crisp (38.1% three-point shooting). Arizona Why Fischer Is Buying In: After a 51 start in conference play, Arizona has returned to its annual perch atop the Pac-12. The Wildcats still trail Washington, and won't see the Huskies until Feb. 7, but Sean Miller's squad has certainly found its footing. Arizona has developed the 22nd-stingiest defense in the country, per kenpom, highlighted by limiting opponents to only 30.4% shooting from three. Chase Jeter has flourished at the center of the Wildcats' attack and defense. But Arizona has won seven of eight contests much in part to the team's top-four scorers all harboring the ability to shoulder an evening's load. That will be a tough combination to defeat in a suddenly lowly conference. Why Meyer Remains Skeptical: The entire Pac-12 is in sell territory, but Im not buying the fact that Arizona is a contender to win this downtrodden conference and make the NCAA tournament. This is not an efficient shooting team and the Wildcats dont have the size theyve been accustomed to in recent seasons. They really struggle against zone defenses, and a good amount of Pac-12 teams play zone. Arizona has scored fewer than 55 points in home losses to Baylor and Oregon, who both play, you guessed it, zone. My money is on Washington or Oregon State getting the conferences only NCAA tournament bid. Kansas State Why Woo Is Buying In: The case for K-States legitimacy is pretty straightforward: their core guys are upperclassmen who went to the Final Four last year, theyre still staunch defensively and have been one of the most consistent teams in a brutally tough Big 12. The regular season slog is about consistency, and as long as Barry Brown continues to be a tone-setter, the Wildcats are going to be able to hang around. They may not win the conference, but what theyre doing shouldnt come as a surprise. Why Shapiro Remains Skeptical: The Wildcats deserve nothing but praise after four straight victories since Jan. 9, including an upset victory over Iowa State in Ames. Though Id tap the breaks on Kansas State as contenders for the Big 12 crown. The Wildcats sit 177th in offensive efficiency, per kenpom, lacking significant scoring punch. This is a veteran squad with NCAA tournament pedigree. But a top-three finish in the Big 12 would surprise me. Ole Miss Why Single Remains Skeptical: We were wrong that the Rebels would be one of the SECs worst teams in year one under Kermit Davis, but the back-to-back wins over ranked Auburn and Mississippi State teams that capped their 10-game winning streak (the programs longest in 11 years) may prove to be this groups ceiling. The 14-point home loss to a long and athletic LSU team that stopped that streak last week reinforced the importance of sophomore point guard Devontae Shuler, who had been the No. 3 scoring option behind Breein Tyree, and Terence Davis has cooled off while playing through a stress fracture in his foot. Ole Miss has enough winnable games down the stretchand only one meeting each with Tennessee and Kentucky, both in Oxfordto put it in great position for an NCAA tournament bid, but come March expect the first top-tier team the Rebels cross to expose how far they still have to go.

https://www.si.com/college-basketball/2019/01/22/villanova-maryland-syracuse-arizona-louisville-hoops

Can Procter & Gamble Keep Beating Expectations In Q2?

Procter & Gamble is scheduled to announce its fiscal second quarter results on Wednesday, January 23. In Q1, the companys net sales came in flat at $16.7 billion, driven by growth in the Beauty and Fabric Care segments, offset by declines in the Grooming, Health Care, and Baby and Feminine Care businesses. Furthermore, foreign currency exchange headwinds also impacted the companys results by 3%. However, P&Gs organic sales were up 4% year-over-year (y-o-y) on 3% volume growth, with flat pricing and 1% growth in mix across segments, excluding the impacts of foreign exchange, acquisitions and divestitures. Procter & Gambles stock price has fluctuated between $71 and $92 in 2018, mostly due to falling prices and rising cost inflation. We have an $84 price estimate for P&Gs stock, which is slightly below the current market price. We have created an interactive dashboard on What To Expect From Procter & Gambles Fiscal Q2, which outlines our forecasts for the companys results. You can modify our forecasts to see the impact any changes would have on the companys earnings and valuation. Q2 Expectations In Q2, we expect Procter & Gamble to report a slight fall in revenues on the back of declines across major segments Grooming, Health Care and Baby, Feminine, and Family Care. This is because we expect the rising competition from local players to negatively impact the revenue in the Baby, Feminine, and Family Care segments in Q2. We also expect the Grooming segment to continue its declining revenue trend, due to secular pressure from the likes of Dollar Shave Club. However, the rising popularity of its direct-to-customer model Gillette-On-Demand could offset some of this pressure. In addition, commodity costs, foreign exchange challenges, and transportation costs likely persisted and may have even worsened in Q2, which could impact the companys growth rates. Trucking costs are expected to be up 25% or more compared to last years levels in fiscal Q2. Almost 56% of P&Gs revenue comes from outside of North America, of which a major chunk (34%) comes from emerging markets. Largely, P&Gs revenues in these markets are influenced by local cultural buying habits and local currency exchange rates, in addition to local competition and political issues. Of late, currency fluctuations have remained a major headwind for the company. Going forward, the companys revenues could fall if the market volatility continues into Q2 as well. In order to combat these headwinds, P&G is planning to increase some selective prices in the Home Care, Oral Care, and Personal Care segments. In Q2, we expect the companys SG&A costs to be around $4.8 billion, slightly up year-over-year (y-o-y). This is based on our assumption of growth in productivity savings from the combination of reduced overhead, agency fees, and ad production costs. We also expect the companys adjusted gross profit margin to decline nearly 4% y-o-y in Q2, on the back of rising delivery costs. Based on these adjustments, we expect P&Gs adjusted operating income to decline almost 10% y-o-y to about $3.6 billion for Q2 2019. Overall, these adjustments resulted in a slight dip in our adjusted net income forecast for the company, translating into adjusted EPS of $1.20. Fiscal 2019 Outlook P&G reaffirms its guidance calling for organic sales growth to fall in the 2% to 3% range for fiscal 2019. It also expects total revenues down 2% to in line with fiscal 2018 results in the same period. In terms of the bottom line, the company continues to expect its core earnings per share growth to be in the 3% to 8% range. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/22/can-procter-gamble-keep-beating-expectations-in-q2/

What's The Outlook Like For Schlumberger?

Schlumberger, the largest oilfield services provider, published its Q4 2018 results on Friday, posting revenues that beat market expectations, while earnings were largely in line with street estimates. However, the companys outlook for 2019 remains somewhat mixed, amid weak oil prices and uncertainty relating to spending by oil and gas operators in North America, which has been a big driver of production growth in recent years. Below, we take a look at what lies ahead for the company in 2019. Activity Likely To Slow Down In U.S. Schlumberger noted that the recent decline in oil prices (down by almost 30% since October) has caused a lot of uncertainty surrounding E&P spending by oil and gas companies for 2019. Activity in the on-shore U.S. market in particular could be impacted, as operators look to better align their investments to their free cash flows, hurting drilling and production activity. U.S. players are likely to focus spending on their sizable inventory of drilled but uncompleted wells rather than drilling new ones, reducing drilling-related spends. Moreover, the higher cost of capital and lower borrowing capacity in an increasing interest rate environment could also hurt spending. That said, things could be better in the international market, where Schlumberger expects to post mid-single-digit growth over the first half of the year, driven by new projects in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. CapEx Cuts And Potential Upside For Oil The company has indicated that it was largely sold out of high-end product lines and advanced technologies for the year, and its possible that this could enhance pricing power in some of these segments over the year. Schlumberger has indicated that it would be cutting its full-year capital expenditures for 2019 to between $1.5 billion and $1.7 billion, compared to $2.2 billion last year, and indicated that much of its spending is likely to be geared towards these high-end products. Moreover, there is a possibility that oil prices could pick up gradually over the year, driven by supply cuts by Russia and OPEC, and a possibility that the Trump Administration will tighten its sanctions on Iran, constraining its oil exports. Moreover, a potential settlement of the U.S.-China trade dispute could also help bolster prices. While we remain bullish on Schlumberger, we have reduced our price estimate for the company to about $55 per share (about 20% ahead of market price), down from $69 per share. This values the company at about 30x its projected 2019 EPS. Key changes to our valuation model include lower long-term growth rates for the drilling, production and reservoir characterization segments. for more details on the key drivers of the companys value. Explore example interactive dashboards and create your own.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/greatspeculations/2019/01/22/whats-the-outlook-like-for-schlumberger/

Are Investors Finally Starting To Care About Social Impact?

In the investing world, there's always a hot new narrative. The narrative typically takes the form of an innovative product, a sector rotation or an "inevitable" theme. One narrative that I've been particularly interested in for the past couple of years is that of ESG investing. Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is the discipline of investing for financial return without sacrificing for social impact. You have likely come across different terms and acronyms that mean pretty much the same thing: Sustainable Responsible Impact (SRI), Strategic Sustainable Investing (SSI) and Impact Investing, just to name a few. If the acronym seems vague, and maybe even a little arbitrary, it's because it is. While the potential for this investing theme to become a dominant narrative makes sense - after all, who wouldn't want to make money AND save the environment, there are a few key hurdles that have made ESG solutions more about potential than impact. The Pitfalls: First, the measuring of the ethical impact that a single company can have on society and/or the environment is not only a pretty daunting task but also one that is very personal. For some industries, such as tobacco or gun producers it's pretty straightforward, but for others, it can be a pretty slippery slope. What's important to one person may not even be on the ethical radar of another, and this makes standardization of products extremely difficult. The entire premise of ESG is based on the view that you can have both financial and moral returns. That you can make money without sacrificing for your own values by financially supporting companies that are adopting practices that you deem questionable. But if no businesses are without some questionable practice across their entire operations than the addressable universe of companies to invest in becomes zero. While the example is extreme, the fact remains that ESG is about both the investor allocating dollars and the companies they invest in adhering to a new world where sustainability and social impact matter. This seems like a classic 'chicken or the egg' problem; investors won't sacrifice returns in any scale and companies will operate to maximize shareholder value. But more so, it's a cycle that can only be broken by investor demands on companies, in scale, through intermediary and institutional channels. I'm picking now to write about a topic that I've been following for years because I believe that it's actually starting to happen. : William Blair recently published a piece examing how sustainable Sustainable Investing actually is. One of the more interesting elements of the report is a chart highlighting the five top annual priorities for corporate executive over the last ten years. What you'll see in the chart is a very clear shift from predominantly economic concerns in 2008 to predominantly environmental, societal and geopolitical concerns in 2018. These executive concerns shape corporate strategy and action thereby more clearly defining both the universe of ESG investable companies and through the benefit of comparison, what ESG means on a broader level. The below chart takes a look at how financial advisors and institutional investors are engaging with ESG related investment content across Harvest. It's measuring how likely the people allocating the largest sums of investment dollars are to be interested in reading ESG related investment insights across the platform. This is a meaningful increase in engagement, especially considering that there was no meaningful change in the volume of ESG content available nor other extraneous factors. We can see similar trends when looking at Harvest's measures of absolute interest for ESG and Impact Investing related content. The next charts measures change in absolute interest in ESG related content across financial advisors and institutional asset owners. In the fourth quarter of 2018 financial advisors were 132% more interested in ESG and asset owners 195% when compared to the first quarter. While the increase is large, what stands out the most in the chart is the steady rate of interest growth. This indicates more of a fundamental shift than an interest spike around a specific catalyst. As a result, we can have more confidence that the ESG narrative has some legs. : As wealth continues to shift to a younger, and perhaps more socially conscious investor base, the need for ESG focused investment solutions will continue to increase. Correspondingly, the advisors and asset owners investing this wealth must have ESG solutions that fit the specific needs of their client base and constituents. Finally, I believe that we will continue to see more overt examples of companies adhering their corporate governance to sustainability efforts, which in turn should make it easier to normalize data around which companies best adhere to ESG practices.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhans/2019/01/22/are-investors-finally-starting-to-care-about-social-impact/

Will Jerry Jones finally make a run at Sean Payton?

Last week, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made reference to opportunities that may arise next week when discussing his coaching staff. Well, next week is here. Some insist that Jones was referring not to coach Jason Garrett, but to offensive coordinator Scott Linehan. The fact that the Cowboys fired Linehan last week would tend to undermine that argument, however. Scroll to continue with content Ad The context of the discussion and the broader circumstances point to Garrett. And the speculation in some circles has led to Saints coach Sean Payton as being the person to whom Jones was referring when he mentioned an opportunity that could arise next week. Its next week. And Payton is available. If, of course, the Saints are willing to part with Payton. And if, of course, the Cowboys are willing to compensate the Saints. And if, of course, the Cowboys are willing to compensate Payton. And if, of course, the Cowboys are willing to absorb the scrutiny and the fine that would flow from blatant defiance of the spirit or letter of the Rooney Rule. Still, the nagging sense that Jones will eventually make a run at Payton wont go away. Thats why it makes sense to continue to keep an eye on Dallas, at least for the next week or so.

https://sports.yahoo.com/jerry-jones-finally-run-sean-153306233.html?src=rss

Can the NFL game be properly officiated anymore?

The counter-argument has been the same for years now: We bystanders couldnt possibly fathom what its like to officiate an NFL game. The needs are almost impossiblemental dexterity to associate a piece of legislative minutiae from the leagues 89-page rule book with a millisecond-long flashpoint in a game played by the fastest and strongest people on earth, years of expertise to properly position yourself for an adequate view without railroading the play in progress and fortitude to trust your instincts and announce the findings to a stadium packed with tens of thousands of disgruntled fans. For the most part, its a functional comeback. The reasonable among us can deduce that officials have only become a consistent sponge for our misgivings after the advent of high-definition replay and the 600-camera broadcastall of which now feature a former referee whos paid to criticize the very thing he spent years trying to tell us was so difficult to do. Go back and watch a 1994 Bengals-Oilers tilt under the same microscope and gasp at the myriad crimes against officiating youd uncover. On Sunday, I watched from a perch about 100 yards away as Rams Nickell Robey-Coleman demolished Saints Tommylee Lewis while the ball was still in the air and not get flagged for either of the two infractions he committed on the playpass interference and a helmet-to-helmet collision. Both were evident even from my vantage point, where the players were about the size of pocket chess pieces. The call cost the Saints a chance at a first down inside the Rams five-yard line, and an opportunity to whittle most of the remaining 1:45 off the clock. A touchdown could have effectively end the game depending on the remaining time. Instead, New Orleans kicked a field goal, allowed Los Angeles to do the same on their next drive and lost in overtime. I stood next to Robey-Coleman in the locker room after the game, and watched as he saw the play for the first time on another reporters cell phone. He laughed, grabbed him by the arm and shoulder and said: Aw hell yeah, that was [pass interference]. He admitted that it was a busted coverage, and he simply whacked [Lewiss] ass to keep him out of the end zone. I did my part, Robey-Coleman said. The referee made that call. We respect it. Players have never been faster. Almost every team has the ability and incentive to dramatically alter their tempo frequently. Plays themselves are so often designed to deceive the defense and create incidental contact that borders on illegality. And, underneath it all, referees must balance a Bible-sized tome of rules and clarifications against the fact that owners want a streamlined product that doesnt lag, or adversely affect their most popular players. There are, it seems, as many unwritten rules to follow as the ones laid out in black and white. Well never know, as officials are cloistered like monks in an abbey. Vinovichs responses to a pool reporter after the Saints game were about as illuminating as instructions to build . Even after everything, the counter argument is still valid. Of course the lay person couldnt officiate an NFL game with any degree of accuracy. Email us at talkback@themmqb.com.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/22/nfl-officiating-saints-rams-missed-call-pass-interference-playoffs-super-bowl

What Are The Signs Of High Blood Pressure?

originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. Heres what you need to know about what to look for, along with expert tips on monitoring your blood pressure at home. Your blood pressure rises and falls naturally throughout the day. However, if it stays high for a long period of time, it can damage your heart and cause a number of health conditions, including heart attack, stroke, heart failure and kidney disease. High blood pressure, or hypertension, affects about one in three adults in the United States, but many people dont know they have it. In most cases, high blood pressure has no warning signs or symptoms. Its called the silent killer because, all too often, there are no signs or symptoms that you have a potentially dangerous health condition. Sweating, feeling flush, nervousness and difficulty sleeping are actually myths and not real signs that your blood pressure is high. The only exception is when you have extremely high blood pressure, known as a hypertensive crisis, where your blood pressure rises well above normal. If your blood pressure is unusually high and you are having nosebleeds and severe headaches, its a medical emergency and you should get to a hospital immediately. Barring these symptoms, the only way to confirm whether you have high blood pressure is to get it measured, and the best way to do this is to visit your doctor for a professional assessment. If your blood pressure is too high, your doctor may recommend monitoring it at home as a way to keep tabs on your blood pressure goals. But before you rush out and buy a home blood pressure monitor, there are some things to keep in mind, says Helga Van Herle, MD, a cardiologist at Keck Medicine of USC and associate professor of clinical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC: 1. Digital monitors are the easiest to use correctly. They are also often covered by health insurance if your doctor prescribes it. 2. Talk to your doctor before choosing a machine. If youre going to embark on home blood pressure monitoring, its important to discuss the different types of devices, as well as the how to actually use them, with your health care provider, Dr. Van Herle says. 3. Wrist and finger monitors are difficult to use correctly. These kinds of monitors are not recommended by the American Heart Association because results are often inaccurate. 4. Several devices can integrate with a smartphone, tablet or other mobile device. This allows you to keep accurate records that can be shared with your doctor. 5. Choosing the right cuff size is critical. Readings can be extremely inaccurate if you choose the wrong size. 6. Once you buy your monitor, bring it to your next doctors visit. In my practice, I usually ask patients to bring in their monitor and show me how they use it, Dr. Van Herle says. Then I calibrate their device with a manual blood pressure reading done concurrently in the office. If you find that you have ongoing high blood pressure, work with your health care team to make healthy lifestyle changes and/or choose appropriate medications. Consulting with a cardiologist can be helpful for people whose blood pressure isnt being controlled by medications, who are pregnant or who have been hospitalized with a hypertensive crisis. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/22/what-are-the-signs-of-high-blood-pressure/

Why Do Programming Languages Use Frameworks?

originally appeared on Quora: the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. For the same reasons your phones operating system doesnt come pre-installed with every app on the app store. For instance: Frameworks are built with different dependencies . Some frameworks require very specific versions of other libraries, which may be incompatible with the library versions used by another framework. Some frameworks even require specific versions of the language (e.g., Python 2.7 vs Python 3.5). . Some frameworks require very specific versions of other libraries, which may be incompatible with the library versions used by another framework. Some frameworks even require specific versions of the (e.g., Python 2.7 vs Python 3.5). Frameworks are developed by different people . In order to consolidate all these projects into a single unified whole, youd need to turn them into a single organization reporting in at different levels. Thats a lot of added management overhead; too much for what are often open source and personal projects to most contributors. . In order to consolidate all these projects into a single unified whole, youd need to turn them into a single organization reporting in at different levels. Thats a lot of added management overhead; too much for what are often open source and personal projects to most contributors. Frameworks develop at a different pace . If the core language wants to release every six months, but some framework wants to release every two weeks, it wouldnt be reasonable to force them to align to a single release schedule. Maybe the language releases more slowly because it takes longer to test, so if you release every two weeks, youre possibly shipping unstable code. But if you release every six months, you could be needlessly preventing users from making use of new features of that framework. . If the core language wants to release every six months, but some framework wants to release every two weeks, it wouldnt be reasonable to force them to align to a single release schedule. Maybe the language releases more slowly because it takes longer to test, so if you release every two weeks, youre possibly shipping unstable code. But if you release every six months, you could be needlessly preventing users from making use of new features of that framework. Frameworks can be mutually exclusive. If two frameworks both solve the same problem, and are both popular with different people (TensorFlow vs PyTorch, React vs Angular, etc. If two frameworks both solve the same problem, and are both popular with different people (TensorFlow vs PyTorch, React vs Angular, etc. Frameworks can be bloated. They can pull into tons of dependencies, drivers, applications, and end up costing you many gigabytes of disk space. If all that needs to be packaged into every application, your users will complain. Decentralizing framework development is a good thing. It means anyone with a great new idea to improve the language can do so without needing to go through a highly bureaucratic committee and get official buy-in first. It means frameworks can compete, and the ones that arent very good can go away quietly without affecting the long term development of the language. It means learning the language doesnt require learning (or sifting through) hundreds of components youre probably not interested in. And as long as installing a new framework is as easy as pip install whatever , there isn't any good reason to bundle them together to begin with. This question originally appeared on Quora - the place to gain and share knowledge, empowering people to learn from others and better understand the world. You can follow Quora on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+. More questions:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2019/01/22/why-do-programming-languages-use-frameworks/

Are Millennials More Financially Responsible Than We Thought?

Millennials tend to get a bad rap when it comes to being financially responsible. (Avocado toast, anyone?) The reality, however, is that they're doing a pretty decent job of keeping their spending in check. The average millennial spends $2,164.99 a month, or $25,979.88 a year, according to data from Ally Financial. But when we compare millennial spending to that of the average American, the numbers don't paint such an unfavorable picture for younger adults. Consider this: The average millennial spends $325.44 a month on food. The average American, meanwhile, spends $600.25. Furthermore, millennials spend an average of $426.73 on housing, whereas the average American spends $1,573. Young couple using laptop on a couch. More IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES. Of course, part of the reason why millennials might spend less than Americans across all age groups is that they earn less. Still, let's not gloss over the fact that while 60% of all U.S. adults have less than $1,000 in savings, 45% of millennials are actively saving for emergencies like medical bills, car problems, or home repairs. And that's not the only thing they're saving for. A good 41% are setting money aside for retirement despite the fact that it's decades away. And another 41% are socking away cash in the hopes of putting a down payment on a home. Clearly, millennials are doing a decent job of not overspending and saving some of their income. And Americans across all age groups should really aim to follow suit. Getting your financial house in order If you're currently maxing out the bulk of your paycheck and have little to no money set aside for emergencies, retirement, or other goals, it's time to realign your priorities. First, create a budget. It'll help you see where your money is going so you can identify ways to cut back on spending if necessary. And make no mistake about it: If you're unable to consistently save at least 15% of your paycheck, it means you're spending too much. Next, take steps to automate your savings so that your newly freed-up cash goes where it needs to go. If you don't have money in a traditional savings account to cover unplanned bills, your first goal should be to amass enough cash to cover at least three months' worth of living expenses, and ideally, more like six months' worth. To that end, set up a direct transfer so that part of your earnings are sent into savings until you've reached your goals. Once that's in place, you can focus on other key objectives, like retirement. If your employer offers a 401(k) plan, signing up for it is a great way to ensure that your money gets put away for the future. Otherwise, find an IRA with an automatic savings feature, and arrange to have part of each paycheck land there month after month. Of course, millennials aren't off the hook in this regard. While an estimated 82% are saving in some capacity, that means 18% are maxing out their paychecks rather than managing to put money away. Still, the fact that most younger workers are building up a safety net, nest egg, or home down payment is impressive in its own right. They say that with age comes wisdom, and if that's right, millennials are clearly ahead of their time. If you're among the majority of millennials who are saving money and spending in a relatively modest fashion, keep up the good work. And if not, pledge to do better -- whether you're part of the millennial generation or not. More From The Motley Fool The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

https://news.yahoo.com/millennials-more-financially-responsible-thought-174800261.html

Wasn't Tesla Supposed To Make More Money As The Model 3 Ramped?

Teslas CEO, Elon Musk, sent an email to all the companys employees early Friday morning which led to the stock falling $45 or 13% to $302 on Friday. It started off weak on Tuesday, dropping $7, but has recovered a bit and is only down $3 for the day. This isnt the first time the shares have experienced the down elevator syndrome and it may recover, but this time could be different since the Model 3 is shipping in volume and that is what many investors were forecasting would drive the company to sustained profitability. Musk wrote in his email that even though Tesla was selling more Model 3s in the December quarter it will make less profit than the September quarter. And for the March quarter he wrote, with great difficulty, effort and some luck, to target a tiny profit. He added that even getting to breakeven will be dependent on selling higher-priced Model 3s in Europe and Asia which helped the September and December quarters in the U.S., but that is only a temporary situation. It appears that the push to sell Model 3s before the full Federal tax rebate was cut in half at the end of December was an indication of the issues Musk just wrote about. The need for the push and now the layoffs may have shown the company its backlog is not as robust as it thought it was. Tesla sold almost 56,000 Model 3s in the September quarter and increased that to just over 63,000 in the December quarter or a yearly run rate of 252,000 vehicles. This is below the 400,000 to 500,000 per year that is probably still in the plans, but if enough potential buyers have decided to back away from buying one (such as myself which I outlined the reasons for last month) the company may not have the demand that was indicated in the deposits customers made. Musk included in his email that Tesla was cutting 7% of its workforce while at the same time needing to make more cars. He wrote, Higher volume and manufacturing design improvements are crucial for Tesla to achieve the economies of scale required to manufacture the standard range (220 mile), standard interior Model 3 at $35k and still be a viable company. Note: I added the italics to indicate the seriousness of this comment. However, unless Teslas stock falls substantially, 50% or more, the company should be able to sell more stock to get it through this very rough going. A key bull thesis may be broken One of the key bull arguments is Tesla growing revenue at substantial rates , which is needed to overcome the stocks high valuation. Unfortunately, with Musks email analysts are cutting their revenue and earnings estimates, and even uber-Tesla bull Trip Chowdhry at Global Equity Research is now expecting flattish 2019 revenue. Tesla should generate about $21 billion in revenue for 2018, and Chowdhry had been forecasting 2019 revenue of $29 billion for a 41% growth rate. He had also been estimating operating profit of $204 million in 2018, increasing to $1.9 billion in 2019 or $6.87 in earnings per share. These projections will have to come down and probably substantially. Jeffrey Osborne at Cowen has an Underperform rating on Tesla with a $200 price target (it had been $250) and he dropped his 2019 EPS estimate from $11.02 to $6.16 and 2020 from $11.16 to $8.88. He is still expecting the company to increase revenue by 15% in 2019 to $24.4 billion but only by 4% in 2020 to $25.4 billion. Second bull thesis on capital could also take a hit Musk has touted that Tesla will be able to generate enough free cash flow to fund its capital requirements and wont need to sell more stock or increase debt. This will be put to the test as the table from Cowens Osborne details the potential for $20 to $25 billion needed from 2017 to 2022. With $10.9 billion in debt as of September last year, $3 billion in cash, $920 million in debt coming due in March and the ability to generate substantial free cash flow being much more in doubt, the company may have to sell more stock. Chart shows support around $295 and then $250 It wont be until Wednesday, January 30, that any more details are provided so the stock may be in a holding pattern until then, probably with a bit of downside risk due to the negative news and information vacuum until then. There is some short-term support around $295 with the next major support level at $250. If it starts to look like the company cant ramp the Model 3 with enough profitability and more capital needed to be raised, investors will have to believe that future products (full self-driving, Model Y, Semi, Truck and Roadster on the vehicle side and Powerwall/pack and Solar Roof on the energy side) can not just make up the revenue slack but do it profitability. Since it doesnt look like Tesla can do this with a quarter of a million Model 3s being sold in a year, uncertainty could enter investors minds. And we all know investors hate uncertainty .

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2019/01/22/wasnt-tesla-supposed-to-make-more-money-as-the-model-3-ramped/

Can panic alarms save women in Mexico City?

BOGOTA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Victims of domestic abuse in Mexico City will be given panic alarms as part of government efforts to combat growing rates of violence against women in a country where on average more than seven women are killed by men every day. Authorities aim to hand out key rings with a global positioning system (GPS) tracking device and panic alarm buttons to 128 women, mostly aged 30 to 40, who have suffered domestic abuse, including those living with their aggressor, in a first-of-its kind initiative in the capital. Mexico has one of the worlds highest rates of femicide - the killing of a woman by a man because of her gender - according to the United Nations. Victims of femicide often have a long history of domestic violence, and perpetrators are often current or former partners, with many killings taking place in or near the home. It is hoped the use of panic buttons can help prevent femicides by allowing women to quickly alert the police and allow them to track down and respond to incidents of violence. They are victims mainly of domestic violence, at the hands of their partner, Nelly Montealegre, an assistant prosecutor at the Mexico City Attorney Generals Office told local media on Monday. In these cases, the aggressors control what they do, their mobile phones ... they follow them, spy on them, call them constantly and leave threatening messages, Montealegre said. Some of the women have previously received threats from their partners using guns and knives, she said. Last year, 760 women were victims of femicide across Mexico, up from 407 in 2015, and more than three women were killed in the capital alone every day, government figures show. Violence is driven by Mexicos macho culture, which tends to blame women for the violence inflicted on them and to condone it, along with low conviction rates for gender crimes, experts say. A 2018 poll by the Thomson Reuters Foundation ranked Mexico City as the most dangerous transport system for women out of five cities surveyed. It found about three in every four women the capital were not confident about using the transport system without the risk of sexual harassment and abuse or sexual violence. Mexico Citys first elected female mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, who took office last month, has said eradicating gender violence is a top priority. Sheinbaum has pledged to increase the number of prosecutors handling femicide and domestic violence cases to get more convictions for such crimes, and make it easier for women to report violence against them. Panic buttons connected to the police are being used by women in other countries, including Brazil, the UK and Canada. In 2017, the Indian government required all mobile phones sold in India to have a panic button enabling women to call for help.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mexico-women-murders/can-panic-alarms-save-women-in-mexico-city-idUSKCN1PG26E

Where were adults during confrontation between students and protesters in Washington D.C.?

In this Friday, Jan. 18, 2019 image made from video provided by the Survival Media Agency, a teenager wearing a "Make America Great Again" hat, center left, stands in front of an elderly Native American singing and playing a drum in Washington. The Roman Catholic Diocese of Covington in Kentucky is looking into this and other videos that show youths, possibly from the diocese's all-male Covington Catholic High School, mocking Native Americans at a rally in Washington. There were at least five chaperones in front of the Lincoln Memorial with the 150 or so students when the incident happened, the Cincinnati Enquirer reported Monday. None stopped the students as they confronted African-American protesters who had shouted slurs at them. Nor did they step in when the students surrounded an elderly Native American man and mocked his singing, a few students making what appeared to be a demeaning tomahawk chop motion. The man, Nathan Phillips, said later he had stepped between the students and the other group to defuse the tension. Butit wasnt his responsibility. It was the chaperones job. The last time I chaperoned a school field trip, in April 2014, I left for the Musical Instrument Museum with 10 students and came back with 10. Mission accomplished. (Photo: Karina Bland/The Republic) As a parent, Ive chaperoned plenty ofschool trips. The last time, I lined up the 10 students assigned to me before we got on the bus and told them that while this trip waseducational and fun, it also was about making me look good. Their behavior would reflect on me. So don't do anything stupid. They agreed. Most of the time, chaperoning a school trip is easy duty. But it comes with the responsibility of making sure students are safe. The Covington chaperones didnt do that. According to student accounts, a chaperone gave them the OK to shout school-pride chants to counter the hateful things shouted at them. This wasnt a time for school pride. It was a moment to swallow that pride and walk away. In one video, a chaperone tells the young men to move back. The woman suggested the students stop arguing. Youre not going to change their minds, she said. It wasnt enough. The students left quickly enough when it was time to board the buses. Its a call the chaperones should have made sooner. Reach Bland at karina.bland@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8614. Read more at karinabland.azcentral.com. Click here to subscribe to azcentral.com. Go to connect.azcentral.com for a staff list, for more information about the newsroom and for details about upcoming events. Read or Share this story: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/karinabland/2019/01/22/chaperones-covington-confrontation-broke-first-rule-chaperoning/2647198002/

https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/karinabland/2019/01/22/chaperones-covington-confrontation-broke-first-rule-chaperoning/2647198002/

Could The Socialists United Of Venezuela Finally Be Falling Apart?

Venezuela is officially a dictatorship. The Organization of American States does not recognize Nicolas Maduro as its president. Nor does nearly all of Latin America, with the exception of maybe three governments: Cuba, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. If the ruling Socialists United of Venezuela (PSUV) has nine lives, theyre lived eight of them. Vice President Mike Pence released a video message on Tuesday in support of the Venezuelan opposition and recent protests in Caracas. He also called Maduro a dictator, meaning Washington now views this guy through a 1980s Cold War lens. Everyone except those three aforementioned countries now recognize National Assembly president Juan Guaid as the democratically elected leader of the country. He has been leading rallies nationwide in an effort to galvanize public support to oust PSUV from power. Guaidos National Assembly is the equivalent of the U.S. Congress. Hes their Nancy Pelosi. Only that body of government was stripped of its powers by PSUV roughly two years ago to form a so-called Constituent Assembly of leftist PSUV yes men and yes women who continue to run Venezuela into the ground. Against all odds, over the last 10 to 12 days, weve seen a growing sense of enthusiasm, said Dimitris Pantaoulas, a Caracas-based political analyst and consultant was quoted saying in todays Miami Herald. Guaido as an opposition leader is relatively new, and you cant say that his positions are particularly clear ... but hes become a symbol of hope and energy. See: Desperate Venezuelans Demand Change The Miami Herald A group of rank-and-file members of the National Guard published a video on social media calling for protests. For Maduro and PSUV, this is a coup attempt, and they will see the CIA lurking everywhere. People, by and large, supported the soldiers and rejected Maduro, a leader who has given them six-digit hyperinflation and useless currency. The protests this week were not widespread, however, allowing the military to squash them. However, these events provide further evidence of internal frictions within the armed forces and of the fragility of the PSUV government. There is an increasing possibility of regime change, although who will replace Maduro remains unclear. It could be another member of PSUV, trying to preserve the legacy of the party created by the late Hugo Chavez. Chavez oversaw an economy stoked on oil prices. When oil went from nearly $200 a barrel to $35, Venezuela imploded. The country is going broke. It survives on Russian and Chinese life support. When PSUV is gone, it will undoubtedly fall into the loving arms of the International Monetary Fund. Hugo Chavez would have died twice. Theres been a qualitative change in the antigovernment protests. The protests are not being led by some middle-class bourgeoisie with summer homes on Margarita Island and in Miami. Its happening in the low-income neighborhoods of Caracas where most people survive on government jobslike those in the security forcesor on some form of social welfare program. The poor are PSUVs base. They are starting to see the light. Protests in poor areas not only contradict the governments narrative but could be more difficult for the government to suppress, says Alejandro Arreaza, a Latin America economist at Barclays Capital in New York. The governments capacity to react is limited. Meanwhile, serious crackdowns on opposition leaders leading to jail time, or the police busting heads at tomorrows scheduled protest, will only embolden Washington against PSUV. So far, Trump has not declared Maduro a dictator or Guaido as the recognized leader of the country. Recent attacks against Guaido do not intimidate him. Those left in the country may start seeing in him someone who can get rid of PSUV, even if they are particularly fond of Guaido himself. His vocal opposition against Maduro has led to more participation at town halls and other events across the country, which suggests tomorrows protest could be the biggest one since the anti-Maduro protests from September 2016 to April 2017. Arreaza says this time is different. In the past, there have been periods of high internal pressure for PSUVs ouster but low external pressure. Venezuela was basically a nonstory in the foreign political press. Wall Street watched it because PdVSA bonds are a popular trade and always have been. Washington started pressuring the Maduro government in late 2017 and into 2018, but by then protests had died down and millions of Venezuelans had left the country. This time we have bothexternal pressure and internal pressure against PSUV. It could make political transition more likely, Arreaza says.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrapoza/2019/01/22/could-the-socialists-united-of-venezuela-finally-be-falling-apart/

Which GTA cities voted to opt-in to allow pot stores? Which ones opted out?

Brampton council voted to opt-in to allow private recreational cannabis retail stores within city limits at a special council meeting Monday. Brampton was one of the last GTA municipalities to make a decision ahead of the provincial governments Tuesday midnight deadline to opt-out. As of Tuesday morning, 248 municipalities across the province were listed on the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as opting in, while 71 have opted out, and the rest were still listed as unknown. ( METROLAND FILE PHOTO ) Municipalities can opt-in down the road, but once theyre in, they give up their right to opt-out again. As of Tuesday morning, 248 municipalities across the province were listed on the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario as opting in, while 71 have opted out, and the rest were still listed as unknown. Those that do not notify the AGCO of their preference by the deadline will by default be considered to have opted in. The Ford government announced a phased approach to licensing there was a lottery for 25 initial retail cannabis licences in Ontario earlier in January. Of the 25 winning application spots, five are in Toronto and six in the rest of the GTA. Article Continued Below The purchase and use of recreational marijuana has been legal in Canada since Oct. 17. Toronto council voted 20-4 on Dec. 13 to opt-in, and allow privately owned, provincially regulated pot shops. A quick look at what the other GTA municipalities decided: PEEL REGION Brampton: Some of the concern among councillors allowing private recreational cannabis retail stores stemmed from the federal and provincial governments not fully funding expected policing and health-care costs. But according to Mayor Patrick Brown, if the city had opted out it will receive very little funding to offset those costs at all. I want to praise the Brampton city council for taking the time to do their due diligence, Brown told reporters ahead of the meeting Monday where council voted 8-3 in favour to opt-in. But when I look at the overall picture, 15 per cent of policing costs is still something. Fifteen per cent of policing costs is better than nothing. Right now, if we opt-in there is a potential for additional funding. If we opt-out, we get $2,500. Caledon: Council was unanimous in its vote Monday to opt-out, despite a survey showing residents were slightly in favour. Ward 1 Regional Councillor Ian Sinclair said he voted against opting in because of the privatization of the outlets the Ford government decided to support. I wouldnt have minded the LCBO store as a front, Sinclair said. They have experienced staff and a set of rules that are already proven. But we dont know whats going on in individual retail stores. Article Continued Below Mississauga: City council voted 10-2 in December to opt-out. Some councillors felt the municipality was being rushed into making a decision without any control or planning. I dont want Mississauga to be a guinea pig, Councillor Dipika Damerla said. I think were better off taking a prudent approach. HALTON REGION Burlington: Council voted on Jan. 14 to opt-in. Mayor Marianne Meed Ward, who put forward the motion, said the citys public consultation showed residents support retail cannabis, and there are many more citizens who voiced their support to her but are too nervous to put their names on the record. Halton Hills: Council voted 8-3 to opt-in on Monday. Milton: Council voted 6-2 in December to opt-out. Councillors hedged their position by directing staff to report back to council to reconsider opting out once more information on the issue becomes available, but no later than December 2019. Oakville: Council voted 14-1 on Jan. 14 to opt-out. The reasons councillors provided ranged from health concerns about cannabis to issues with the lack of control the municipality would have with regard to these stores. DURHAM REGION Ajax: Council voted 7-0 on Jan. 14 to opt-in. Despite the vote, Mayor Shaun Collier told council, The odds we are getting any location is very, very slim. Brock: Council voted to opt-in. Clarington: Council voted 4-3 in January to opt-in. Cannabis is a huge industry that will create jobs and help boost our economy, Mayor Adrian Foster said in a statement. Oshawa: Council voted 7-4 to opt-in on Jan. 17. Councillors heard from Aaron Switzer of the Ontario Retail Cannabis Accessory Coalition who estimated there was the potential for $6.3 million in cannabis sales annually in the city and said that was a hyper-conservative estimate. Pickering: Council voted 5-2 in December to opt-out. Scugog: City council voted 5-0 to opt-in on Monday. Uxbridge: Council voted 5-2 to opt-in on Monday. Whitby: Council voted 6-3 to opt-out Monday. YORK REGION Aurora: Council voted to opt-in on Monday. East Gwillimbury: Council voted to opt-out on Jan. 8. We should not be part of the first wave, said Ward 1 Councillor Loralea Carruthers, who supported the move to opt-out. If all goes well, we may want to be part of the second wave. If all doesnt go well, we may not want to. Not that were closing the door entirely. Georgina: Council voted to opt-out on Jan. 16. Key among a number of reasons raised by those who voted to opt out included the fact the municipality couldnt back out from its decision. Once you opt-in, you cant opt back out, Mayor Margaret Quirk said. Theres no going back and that concerns me. King: Council voted to opt-out in December. Markham: Council voted 12-1 to opt-out in December. We still have a lot of unanswered questions about community safety, about the impact to families and children, Mayor Frank Scarpitti said. This vote by Markham council reflects the concerns we have heard throughout the community. We have taken this position with the previous government and we applaud the provincial government for giving us the choice to opt-out. Newmarket: Council voted 7-2 to opt-out on Jan. 15. Mayor John Taylor said the town would review and revisit the decision in a years time. By then, we hope more information will be available and we are able to learn from the experiences of the municipalities that have opted in, Taylor said in a news release. Richmond Hill: Council voted unanimously to opt-out in December. Its our job to do what we think is best for our community, Mayor Dave Barrow said. Much of what we have heard from our citizens says that they would not welcome cannabis retail outlets in Richmond Hill. Vaughan: Council voted to opt-out Monday. Whitchurch-Stouffville: Council voted to opt-in on Jan. 15, the first York municipality to do so. Cannabis is legal and its not going away, Councillor Rick Upton said. Today, cannabis is very available anywhere, anytime you want it on the black market. This is one of my major concerns, on the black market, you dont know what is in it, what its laced with. With files from Metroland, The Canadian Press and Stefanie Marotta Patrick Ho is a rewrite editor working on the Star's digital desk in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @patrick_ho_007

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2019/01/22/which-gta-cities-voted-to-opt-in-to-allow-pot-stores-which-ones-opted-out.html

Should I drain my savings to buy a house?

Although the housing market has cooled a little in many cities, theres still a sense among young adults that they may never own a house. And so, they ask questions like this one: Q: Im in my early-30s, and am only now starting to think about (possible) home ownership. At this point in time, thats what Im facing, and Im not sure how normal or financially responsible that would be. A: I have not seen any figures on this, so Ill have to go with my gut here and say it is normal for first-time buyers to burn their savings to buy a home. Its not just the down payment that eats up savings. Legal fees plus closing costs can add thousands to the bill. Story continues below advertisement It may be normal to spend all your savings to buy a home, but its not financially responsible. Housing true believers will tell you that everyone struggles financially to get into a house, so dont sweat it. But having no savings cushion at all when you own a home puts you at risk of having to go into debt to afford one of those repair or maintenance emergencies that are unavoidable when you own a home. Youre ready to buy a house when you have a down payment, when you can afford all the closing and moving costs AND when you can keep at least a couple of thousand dollars back for emergencies. As a home owner of 25 or so years, I can tell those emergencies do happen. If you need help figuring out whether that mortgage will leave you house poor, check out our Real Life Ratio calculator. If so, you can sign up for Carrick on Money here. Robs personal finance reading list Stocks for a TFSA Story continues below advertisement Story continues below advertisement A personal finance blogger lists five dividend stocks that hes considering for his tax-free savings account and generates a lively debate with readers. Life in a tiny condo I wrote recently about how young adults are having trouble affording both rents and mortgage payments in the Toronto area. One solution is the tiny condo, accent on the tiny. Toronto Life recently interviewed a couple living in a two-storey, 450-square-foot condo. Four regrettable financial mistakes A blogger provides an honest accounting of four financial missteps that cost her thousands of dollars. Good to see someone warning about spending too much on weddings. From the department of food gadgets Story continues below advertisement An ode to food dehydrators. If you want to indulge yourself on one gadget for your kitchen this year, this might be the one. Heres a calculator that can help show you how much tax youll save with an RRSP contribution. Of course, RRSPs work best when you reinvest those tax savings into the plan. Or, use them to pay down debt. Send it my way. Sorry I cant answer every one personally. Questions and answers are edited for length. Perma-debt ETFs are good for your portfolio, but not if you do this (for Globe Unlimited subscribers) More Carrick and money coverage For more money stories, follow me on Instagram and Twitter, and join the discussion on my Facebook page. Millennial readers, join our Gen Y Money Facebook group. Send us an e-mail to let us know what you think of my newsletter. Click here to sign up.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/personal-finance/household-finances/article-should-i-drain-my-savings-to-buy-a-house/

How do brands cope with their product becoming wildly popular for unintended reasons?

A Q-tip, that familiar stick bracketed by soft cotton on either end, seems made to clean the ears inserting the swab into the ear canal is surely the point of its existence. Except that, according to the manufacturer, they are not made to clean the ears at all. Q-tips cotton swabs are perfect for arts and crafts, manicures, makeup application, cleaning and more, reads the official Q-tips website. A closer look reveals the fine print: Different uses for our cotton swabs include beauty, baby care, home and electronics, and first aid. One finds no mention of how Q-tips are actually used. As far as Unilever is concerned, ear-cleaning is a misapplication of the Q-tip. Unilever is obliged to caution buyers against the dangers of misusing its most popular product. The company sells a product it knows is used primarily for a purpose that any doctor in America will tell you is one of the most dangerous things you can do to your body from a standing position in the bathroom, an editorial in Time joked in mock outrage in 2001. Between 1992 and 1997, more than 100 people experienced a serious eardrum injury as a result of cleaning their ears with Q-tips. Countless others came down with cases of tinnitus. Consult any medical journal, health forum or otolaryngologist and you will hear the same chorus of admonition: it is extremely dangerous to use cotton swabs to remove wax from your ears. Naturally, it would be irresponsible of Unilever to advertise Q-tips as appropriate for this purpose. On the other hand, a product so popular must be indispensably lucrative. Marketing is a complicated science, to be sure, and how goods are sold involves a currency of ideas sometimes too elusive for the consumer to readily comprehend. Marketing is a complicated science, to be sure, and how goods are sold involves a currency of ideas sometimes too elusive for the consumer to readily comprehend. But one tenet seems relatively straightforward: a successful brand has positive associations. If you sell fast food, you want that food to conjure images of comfort, delight, economy; if you sell a kind of soda pop, you want its name to evoke feelings of cheer, excitement, pleasure. What you probably do not want is for the product to bring to mind the opposite of whatever you intended particularly if the thing brought to mind has a good chance of putting your buyers in the hospital. A company such as Unilever has an interest in shaping our perception of its wares: it aspires to make Q-tip synonymous with, for instance, cleaning between the keys of a computer keyboard, rather than the connotation it cant shake. Ear-cleaning is a Q-tip marketing failure, even as that failure is directly responsible for its success. On January 7th, 2018, a YouTuber named TheAaronSwan669 uploaded a video of himself eating detergent, a semi-ironic feat of extravagant lunacy he dubbed, in keeping with such trends, The Tide Pod Challenge. Tide Pods are the nifty little self-contained laundry pacs the company launched in 2012 to considerable enthusiasm. They appear colourful and candy-like, and Tide has always been careful to warn consumers to keep them away from kids, who might mistake them for an appetizing treat. A satirical article in The Onion in 2015 riffed on the appeal to a child: From the very second I saw those blue and red detergent pods come out of that shopping bag last week, a fictitious boy editorializes, I knew immediately that, come hell or high water, I would eat one of those things. A couple of years later, real kids on YouTube made this joke into a full-blown trend. Eat some Tide Pods, the videos dared. If the damn things are fatally toxic, all the better for the fun. As the Tide Pod Challenge spread across the internet, mainstream news outlets took note, and it wasnt long before newspapers, daytime talk shows and a whole stratum of concerned parents online were declaring a state of emergency over the self-poisoning antics of the unpredictable Kids These Days. Their alarm was overblown: the Tide Pod Challenge was one of those mock-earnest stunts that savvy teenage pranksters do, as they say on the internet, for the lulz, and there never was any mad nationwide descent into rabid detergent consumption. More people were talking about, and indeed buying, Tide Pods than ever. The reason just happened to be bad. But the kids are eating Tide Pods narrative was much too sensational for the world to ignore, and Procter & Gamble, who owns Tide, was soon obliged to address this apparent new craze, adding new warning labels to their packaging, redesigning the look of the pod to something less overtly delectable, and running advertisements that exhorted children to stop scarfing these things down. It was a delicate situation. More people were talking about, and indeed buying, Tide Pods than ever. The reason just happened to be bad. That was the crisis of identity they faced more than a decade ago, when Icing a ritual among fraternity types in which somebody surprised by the appearance of a bottle of Smirnoff Ice must chug it in its entirety on the spot briefly made the drink a barroom and house-party phenomenon. The gag was premised on the fact that most people find Smirnoff Ice so unpleasant that drinking it was considered an outrageous punishment; but, thanks to the gag, they were drinking it, and in unprecedented numbers. Icing moved units, which is ultimately the goal. Its not that ends justify means; its that if that ends are lucrative, the means are irrelevant. A recent case of popularity gone wrong is among the most peculiar. Bird Box, the feature-length adaptation of the novel by Josh Malerman that Netflix released at the end of last year, has been celebrated by the streaming service as one of its most successful original productions in the history of the platform. However, that success has had an unexpected consequence: the Bird Box Challenge, another viral stunt, this time featuring videos of people attempting to perform everyday tasks while blindfolded, in a nod to the film. Like the Tide Pod Challenge, this Bird Box Challenge has secured the movie further column inches, worldwide notoriety and a place in the conversation no amount of advertising could buy. Also like the Tide Pod Challenge, its proven such a risk to consumers that Netflix has had to issue advisories warning people against trying it at home. Doubtless some who hear about this game have watched the film to see what the fuss is about a win for Netflix. Yet again, some wins dont quite feel right. There is a sense in which, if sales are up, no reason for sudden interest in a product is the wrong kind: all publicity is good publicity. Quashing a misperception or meme thats otherwise compelling people to buy your product could of course compel them to stop altogether, which wont do unless you feel theres a moral responsibility to remove dangerous Tide Pods or Q-tips from the market for the sake of the public good. So, it pays to exploit all this popularity, even if isnt the popularity you want. Corporations are too greedy to be particular about this sort of thing, at the end of the day. When the consumer takes a product into their own hands and does something unplanned with it, brands have to appreciate that at least its their product being bought. You would have to say the only thing worse than the widespread misappropriation of a product, from the brands point of view, is its total disregard. Because if nothing else, we all know the name Q-tips.

https://nationalpost.com/entertainment/when-popularity-goes-wrong-can-brands-save-their-trending-products

How Does The College Football Playoff Affect A Program's Finances?

College football programs make a lot of money, especially national powerhouses. The list of the sports most valuable teams is littered with programs with long and storied histories. Many of the teams at the top of this list are perennial contenders for the national title, and four of the top seven have made the playoff in the last two years. That said, less-wealthy teams have made the playoff. Clemson isnt even on Forbes list of the sports most valuable teams, and their 2016 national title made them the first national champion since 2005 to rank outside the top 20 in revenues. Washington and Michigan State barely cracked the top 25 last year. But while Clemson is a mainstay in the national title conversation, Washington and Michigan State have each only made the playoff once. In Washingtons case, it was a pretty big one. After years of competing just to play in a bowl game, in 2016, the Huskies went 12-1, won the Pac-12, and made the playoff. Prior to this, the Huskies had only won more than seven games in a season twice since 2001. There was even a five-year stretch in which the team won 12 games combined. When head coach Chris Petersen took over in 2014, the program was mediocre at best. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, they made the playoff. Even though they lost to Alabama, just being in contention for the national title appears to have been a huge boon for the program. According to annual financial filings made to the NCAA, the Washington football teams net profit was $22 million in both 2014-15 and 2015-16 (eight- and seven-win seasons, respectively.) However, in 2016-17, the year it made the playoff, the program had a profit of more than $42 million. Compare that to Alabama. In those same three years, the Tide had profits of $46 million, $47 million, and $45 million. After making the playoff just once, Washington nearly doubled their profits to match Alabamas, a team with a long history and five playoff appearances. Granted, Alabama made about $20 million more in pure revenue (Alabama spends more than any other program), but taken by itself, Washingtons growth is massive. While ticket sales increased slightly the year they made the playoff, much of their growth came from contributions. These are, by and large, donations received from individuals, foundations, or corporations designated specifically for the operations of the program. Washington received $7 million more in contributions in 2016-17 than they did the year prior which accounted for most of their growth in revenue. The impact isnt always that big, however. Michigan State made the playoff in 2015, and, importantly, the program was considerably better in the years leading up to their playoff berth than Washington was. In 2014, the Spartans went 11-2 and won the Cotton Bowl, and the year prior, they went 13-1, winning the Big 10 and the Rose Bowl. Between the 2014 and 2015 seasons, Michigan States football program experienced about $3 million in growth, jumping from $29 million to $32 million in profits. Unlike Washington, MSUs ticket sales and contributions largely stagnated. Nearly all of this growth came from participating in the bowl. There was a $3 million boost in revenues generated from conference payouts to the school, much of which comes from their playoff berth. Additionally, the NCAA added a line to these financial statements that included revenue generated from playing in a bowl that was not included in previous years. This increased MSUs revenue by about $4 million. In 2016, though, profits jumped another $6 million. Even though Michigan State went 3-9 and failed to make a bowl, ticket sales jumped $2 million. Total revenue dropped $1 million in large part because contributions decreased and they received only $6,380 in bowl payouts compared to 2015s $4 million. Not participating in a bowl was also a large reason for their increase in profits. Because they didnt have to travel, bowl expenses dropped almost $5 million. For less consistently good programs, it seems like a lot. When a team starts performing well after years of mediocre play, people start to watch. Washington hadnt been an elite program in recent memory, so their playoff berth in 2016 was massive. Michigan State, however, had been playing at a consistently high level for years before their berth. Once financial data for the 2017 and 2018 seasons becomes available, it will be interesting to see if Washington maintains this growth. As for now, if a team makes the playoff, its safe to say they have some money, too.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/gantplayer/2019/01/22/how-does-the-college-football-playoff-affect-a-programs-finances/

Is Bitcoins Printing Press Propping up the Crypto Market?

By CCN.com: The total market capitalization of the cryptocurrency market is currently over $120 billion. However, studies show that billions of dollars worth of this market cap is from built-in inflation. Over the course of 2018, $15 billion in new tokens entered the supply, buttressing the overall market valuation even as prices plunged. Bitcoin Inflation Adds Over $5 Million Per Day An average of once every 10 minutes, 12.5 new bitcoins are added to the market. If we just call the base price $3,000, thats $37,500. The actual amount added to the market capitalization is actually significantly higher at present, but for the sake of argument, well use an easy round number. It comes to a total of $5.4 million every single day in new coins. These new coins are also miner rewards, which means that their odds of winding up on the markets are high. Miners have slim margins even when markets are doing well (because more miners participate). [caption id="attachment_158870" align="aligncenter" width="488"] Source: Diar.co[/caption] Bitcoin SV and Bitcoin Cash dont always hit the 10-minute block target (neither Bitcoin nor any Bitcoin fork does, either), but for the sake of argument, well say they do. Thats another 1,800 coins per day each, worth a combined total of another $360,000 at current prices. From this, we can extract that the three Bitcoin variants add a minimum of $5.7 million to the market capitalization every day. Every 175 or so days, thats $1 billion, even if the markets were frozen and no trading was conducted. Read the full story on CCN.com .

https://news.yahoo.com/bitcoin-printing-press-propping-crypto-203436206.html

Will Barry Bonds ever get into baseballs Hall of Fame?

With Barry Bonds once again denied entry into the Hall of Fame, its instructive to remember a critical change in the election procedure, executed five years ago, and what it means for Bonds future in this process. Effective with the 2015 election, players were no longer on the ballot for a maximum of 15 years. It was reduced to 10, and the immediate reaction centered around Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire and other superstars tainted by their association with performance-enhancing drugs. Many felt it was a direct shot at those players, as it gave hard-line voters five fewer years to soften their stance. Before that rule change, Bruce Sutter got the good news on his 13th try, Bert Blyleven on the 14th, Jim Rice on the 15th. No such luck for todays candidates and for Bonds, instead of seeing his name on the ballot for eight more years, hell be eligible for only the next three elections. (Bonds received 59.1 percent of the vote this year. You need 75 percent to get in.) Some feel hell get into Cooperstown on the very last try, as a significant number of voters stop punishing him and check the box alongside his name. I think thats a stretch. As much as I applaud the stance of The Chronicles Susan Slusser, who began voting for Bonds after what she felt were farcical developments (such as the induction of former commissioner Bud Selig, who cluelessly oversaw the steroid era), there arent enough Slussers around to make a difference. My stance on Bonds has always been clear, and theres no need to resurrect it. I hope he gets elected the conventional way, through the Baseball Writers Association of Americas expansive voting body. Once you get to a committee, anything can happen. I was on the Expansion Era Committee in December of 2013, voting in Orlando, on a ballot including managers Tony La Russa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox, along with former players union head Marvin Miller. There were 16 of us, mostly high-profile figures who wore the uniform. I was one of four men designated as veteran historians, but the conversations were dominated by such forceful voices as Carlton Fisk, Frank Robinson, Whitey Herzog, Tommy Lasorda and (executive) Jerry Reinsdorf. It was interesting, because those three managers were runaway choices for the election but Miller, whose tireless work led to immeasurable freedom and financial gain by the players was shot down. According to Hall of Fame guidelines, the next Expansion Era vote will arrive in December of 2025. Lets say Bonds and Clemens are the centerpieces. An overwhelming number of active Hall of Famers find both of them fraudulent and unworthy. When Harold Baines was elected in December by a Todays Era committee, there was widespread outrage from baseball insiders claiming Baines had friends in that group. In Bonds case, friends are in rather short supply. The assemblage of that committee would likely be as controversial as the vote itself. Thoughts on some other names in play: Mariano Rivera: As a great honor comes his way, its a wonderful time to reflect on his career. Ive always felt that among people in the know, the numbers are important but also secondary. Its what they saw, or felt, that really mattered. Marianos like an iceman out there, said Dennis Eckersley, one of historys few short relievers in Riveras class, in July of 2009. He never looks like hes struggling. For more than a decade, hitters know that one pitch is coming, and they still cant hit it. He breaks the bats of more left-handed hitters than anyone in history. Fred McGriff: He came up short on his 15th and final try, and thats a shame, but Ill admit, I never pulled the trigger. Same with Todd Helton. As much as I admired their accomplishments and consistency, they cant be in the Hall of Fame if fellow first basemen Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly were denied. (I put Will Clark in that category, as well, while acknowledging his prime was all too brief.) Omar Vizquel: Aside from the 11 Gold Gloves and 2,887 career hits, heres the truth from Ken Griffey Jr., to reporters last year: He had the fastest and sweetest hands Ive ever seen in baseball. Oh, yeah. They talk about Ozzie Smith, but Omar did everything Ozzie did and more. He was special, man - really, really special. And his time will come. Mike Mussina: In future years, when a five-inning start is considered an astounding feat of courage and endurance, people will marvel at Mussinas career. He didnt make my ballot for several years, and that was my mistake - but not as bad as the Giants mistake in the 1990 June draft. A longtime friend, the late Doug McMillan, was a Giants scout at that time, working a lot of Bay Area games. He saw enough of Mussina at Stanford to offer a glowing recommendation, almost demanding that the Giants take him with the No. 15 pick of the first round. They felt otherwise. They took outfielder Adam Hyzdu, an outfielder out of a Cincinnati high school. He spent his first 10 professional seasons in the minors and was strictly a fringe player in the big leagues. Bruce Jenkins is a columnist for The San Francisco Chronicle. E-mail: asaracevic@sfchronicle.com

https://www.sfchronicle.com/giants/jenkins/article/Will-Barry-Bonds-ever-get-into-baseball-s-Hall-13553269.php

How did Schilling, Clemens, Bonds fare in Hall of Fame voting?

Weve slogged through seven years of this highly charged and often exhausting debate, but Tuesdays election results guaranteed that an eighth ballot cycle will be spent arguing the pros and cons of Cooperstowns three most controversial candidates. While Mariano Rivera, Roy Halladay, Mike Mussina and Edgar Martinez all earned bronze plaques, Schilling, Clemens and Bonds remain on the outside after finishing with 60.9%, 59.5% and 59.1%, respectively, of the vote. That this trio once again fell short shouldnt be a surprise. Per Ryan Thibodauxs Hall of Fame tracker, all three were short of the 75% threshold amid the publicly available pre-announcement ballots, which made it unlikely they would make it across the finish line. And as all three have garnered less support on the privately released ballots than the public ones in the past, it was only a matter of how far those initial numbers would tumble. Its not all bad news for Bonds, Clemens and Schilling. All three increased their vote share from 2018, with Schilling doing particularly well in jumping from 51.2% to the low 60s. Bonds and Clemens made modest gains, picking up only a couple of points, but progress is progress, and each inched closer to election. Schilling is in the best shape. Hes seen his vote percentage increase by 15 points in the last two cycles, restarting a campaign that went off the tracks two years ago. Having dived headfirst into the toxic stew of the alt-right after retiring, Schilling saw his Hall of Fame support disappear in 2017 afteramong other thingssuggesting that journalists should be lynched, comparing Muslims to Nazis, and posting bigoted memes about transgender people on social media. He lost 35 votes from returning voters on that years ballot, dropping him from 52.3% of the vote to 45, and looked to be in dire straits with regards to Cooperstown. Oddly, though, that dip now looks like a momentary lapse. Of those 35 voters who voted no on Schilling in 2017, 11 added him back on their ballots the following year; five more re-selected him this winter. It was also a brief exile for some of the 11 returning voters who dropped Schilling off their ballots in 2018, with five of those writers checking his box in this years vote. Thats still plenty of folks against him, but its clear that Schillings momentum was slowed down instead of halted altogether. Nor is he necessarily a pariah among newcomers, as five of the eight first-time voters chose him on their ballots. The end result is that Schilling has rebuilt the vote share he had pre-2017 and now has three cycles left to add the 15% needed to reach 75. Just as important is that next years ballot will add only one surefire Hall of Famer in Derek Jeter; a thinner crowd could mean more support. Given that this is Curt Schilling, theres a strong chance he says some new wildly racist or offensive thing before his time on the ballot is up, which may start this whole process all over again. But hes already won back a sizable chunk of the electorate that dropped him, giving him a leg up going forward. His chances at a 2020 election are strong. STAFF: Mariano Rivera Becomes First Player Unanimously Elected to Hall of Fame Things arent as straightforward or rosy for Bonds and Clemens. Unless youve been living under a rock in a giant cave on one of Saturns moons for the last two decades, you know the deal with these two: steroid use accusations have turned their Hall candidacies into a vicious battleground and the anti-PED crowd dug in tight to its trenches. As such, they debuted with modest numbers on the ballot back in 2013: Clemens earned 37.6%, Bonds 36.2. (For whatever reason, Clemens has always finished with slightly higher numbers than Bonds, in a splitting of hairs that would require an electron knife.) They remained stuck in the 30s for another two cycles before jumping into the mid-40s in 16 and gained another 10 points in 17. Since then, though, things have slowed down. Each added a mere three or four percentage points from 2017 to 18, with similar results this time around. Unlike Martinez, Mike Mussina or Larry Walker, Bonds and Clemens cases arent up for debate. If youre against voting for a PED-connected player for the Hall, then no argument is going to convince you to support either of those two. You can see that in how few voters are being flipped from no to yes on them: Via Thibodauxs tracker, Clemens has added just six extra votes to his favor in the last two years, while Bonds has gained only four. Its important to note that neither is losing support, but this slow trickle is harming their chances of getting a bronze plaque. The math is stark and unforgiving. Bonds and Clemens each finished 6570 votes shy of induction this year. They have three years to close that gap. In other words, they need either existing voters to change their minds, or the voter rolls to change quickly and significantly. For that to happen, they'll likely need younger writers more inclined to look past the PED accusations being added while older voters continue to fall off. Its too early to sound absolute doom: Even if Bonds and Clemens add only five percent each year for the next two cycles, theyll enter the 10th year within reach of 75. But their margin for error would be as thin as a sheet of paper, and this years weak results didnt help. Regardless, that may be exactly where were headed. The Hall of Fame debate over Bonds, Clemens and Schilling promises to rage on for at least another year, and likely more beyond it.

https://www.si.com/mlb/2019/01/22/barry-bonds-roger-clemens-curt-schilling-hall-fame-voting

Will NFL fix its laser pointer problem after latest one on Tom Brady?

Even a laser beam to the face cant stop Tom Brady. But pointing a laser at him could lead to criminal charges and a permanent ban from an NFL stadium. It could also lead the NFL to rethink stadium security policies and how those policies connect to the integrity of the game. The NFL is investigating a suspicious green beam that repeatedly appeared on Bradys uniform, helmet and skin during the AFC Championship on Sunday. As KMBC's William Joy shows through images posted on Twitter, the beam nears Bradys face several times, including during crucial moments of the game. One such occasion arose when Kansas City Chiefs safety Daniel Sorensen intercepted a pass thrown by Brady. Imagery shared by KCTVs David Harris also reveals that the beam reached the helmet of Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Nnadi and possibly other Chiefs and New England Patriots players who were positioned near Brady. Joy reports that he spoke with representatives of the NFL, Patriots and Chiefs after the game. Each told him that they hadnt noticed the beam or heard complaints about it. Bradys play also didnt appear to suffer. The 41-year-old threw for 348 yards and led his team to a thrilling 37-31 overtime victory. The Patriots will face the Los Angeles Rams in Super Bowl LIII on Feb. 3. Regardless of whether the laser pointer impacted the AFC Championship, the fact that it repeatedly near a players face presents a safety risk. It is a risk that both the NFL and NFLPA will explore. Further, to the extent a fans laser pointer is used to obstruct the vision of the opposing teams quarterback, the NFL must investigate whether it could give the home team an unfair advantage and what, if anything, should be done as a result. 5 Key Takeaways from LaserGate: Ensuring Player Safety and the Integrity of Games First, laser pointers can severely damage a persons vision and such damage can occur almost instantly. The Mayo Clinic notes that laser pointers, especially those with short wave lengths such as green laser pointers, can permanently damage the retina and cause visual loss with exposures as short as a few seconds. Whether a laser pointer impairs a quarterbacks ability to accurately throw a football is a secondary concern to whether the pointer might temporarily, or even permanently, blind the quarterback. The fact that certain types of green-beam laser pointers are flagged by the Mayo Clinic as particularly harmful should concern the NFL: the beam on Brady was green. Second, the power, accessibility and movability of laser pointers make them difficult for stadiums to police. Laser points can have long ranges that would allow a person seated anywhere in a stadium to beam a player. In fact, basic laser pointers typically beam for over a half of a mile. Many of these devices are also inexpensive, with some costing under $20. Many also fit within the palm of ones hand and are very light, meaning they are easy to conceal and transport. In other words, if someone wanted to enter an NFL stadium and direct a beam onto players face, it probably wouldnt take much effort or expense to do so. McCann: Don't Expect Legal Remedies in Aftermath of Rams' Win Over Saints Third, NFL stadiums have code of conduct policies that are compromised when someone disrupts a players vision through a laser pointer. Arrowhead Stadium, for instance, instructs that ticket holders are forbidden from any behavior that is unruly or disruptive. Likewise, ticket holders are prohibited from impeding the progress of the game. Similarly, they are barred from engaging in conduct that endangers the safety of others. Any attempt to distract the opposing teams quarterback through a laser pointer would clearly violate Arrowheads code of conduct. A code of conduct violation could trigger a permanent ban from Arrowhead Stadium. A game ticket is a contract that, in exchange for a price, provides the ticket holder with a limited and revocable license to enter the stadium in order to watch a game. In the absence of possessing a license, a spectator would be classified as a trespasser and could be arrested. A team could decide to never again offer a license to a person who violates the stadiums code of conduct. Enforceability of such a ban would be a challenge. While facial recognition software and credit card watchlists would facilitate enforcement, Arrowhead Stadium seats over 76,000 people and has limited capacity to monitor each person who enters. A banned person could pay for a ticket with cash or have someone else buy it for him or her. Also, the banned person will obviously age over time. As his or her appearance changes, it would become even more difficult to administer a ban that is dependent on visual identification. Fourth, use of a laser pointer can constitute a criminal act. For instance, it is a federal crime to aim a laser pointer at an aircraft while it is in flight. A number of states and cities also outlaw use of laser pointers when they interfere with law enforcement, ambulatory services or motorists. Likewise, some jurisdictions have banned harassment by laser pointers. While neither Missouri nor Kansas City has a specific law on use of a laser pointer as a tool of harassment, an attempt to impair the vision of another person could count as battery, disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace or similar offenses. To that point, if the person(s) who directed a laser pointer at Brady in Arrowhead Stadium is identified through the NFLs investigation (or through any investigation conducted by local law enforcement), theres a good chance that person would be charged with a crime. BRANDT: NFL Must Upgrade Technology in Wake of Blown Pass Interference Call Fifth, the laser attack on Brady is not an isolated incident for the NFL. In 2016, Brock Osweiler complained about a spectator distracting him with a laser during a game between the Houston Texans and the Oakland Raiders. A couple of years earlier, the Detroit Lions identified and then permanently banned a fan from Ford Field after the fan had used a laser pointer to distract Buffalo Bills players during a game against the Lions. Given the affordability and prevalence of laser pointers, the league and NFLPA should consider their accompanying safety risk a topic for further analysis. The league should also be motivated by competitiveness concerns. Stated bluntly, fans who try to blind opposing teams players could endanger the integrity of games and frustrate the NFLs oft-mentioned focus on fair play. Consider the importance of competitiveness within official league documents. The Official Playing Rules of the NFL, for instance, detail the commissioners desire to avoid competitive inequities in policies governing how games are played. For its part, the collective bargaining agreement between the NFL and NFLPA discusses how microphones affixed to players should not create a competitive disadvantage for the player or his team. The NFLs Constitution and Bylaws also supply relevant language. They impose very specific rules about use of communications and information-gathering equipment in order to ensure those devices do not unfairly aid a team during the playing of a game. They also prescribe rules for use of electronic magnifiers and loud speaker systems. The larger point: The NFL repeatedly pledges to ensure that the presentation and design of games do not cause unfair advantage or unfair disadvantage. With that same spirit in mind, the league could inform teams that they must more aggressively monitor use of laser technology by spectators. A failure to do so could trigger punishments of fines or losses of draft picks. Any such policy along those lines would need to be voted on by owners, at least some of whom would caution that policing tens of thousands of spectators is logistically challenging. Owners would also stress that there are privacy concerns with closely monitoring spectators. Still, if a player is injured by a laser pointer or if a game is clearly impacted by the use of one, the league might regret not addressing the issue more sternly. Just look at the fallout of a referees failure to call pass interference in a conference championship game. Michael McCann is SIs legal analyst. He is also Associate Dean of the University of New Hampshire School of Law and editor and co-author of The Oxford Handbook of American Sports Law and Court Justice: The Inside Story of My Battle Against the NCAA.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/01/22/nfl-laser-pointer-tom-brady-arrowhead-stadium

Why Did So Many Americans Trust Russian Hackers' Election Propaganda?

Investigations of Russian influence on the 2016 election have tended to focus on the role of social media. Researchers are also exploring the psychological vulnerability that hackers exploited. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Let's expand the list of suspects in the 2016 election. We know about Russian propaganda and social media troll farms. We've had congressional hearings into how social media giants, like Facebook, were manipulated to destabilize the country. Few investigators though have focused on us. NPR's social science correspondent Shankar Vedantam has some research on that. Hi, Shankar. SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hey, Steve. INSKEEP: So this is a reminder that when there's a con artist, someone gets conned - they may allow themselves to be conned. VEDANTAM: That's exactly right, Steve. It was deception, but it wasn't simple. Contrary to what partisans on both sides think, voters are not idiots. They don't like being manipulated. I was talking to Cailin O'Connor, at the University of California, Irvine. She's a mathematician and philosopher and co-author of the book "The Misinformation Age: How False Beliefs Spread." O'Connor told me about one very interesting technique used by these propagandists. CAILIN O'CONNOR: They made Black Lives Matter groups. They made gun rights groups. They made LGBTQ groups. They made an animal lovers group weirdly. VEDANTAM: So all over the political spectrum, from left to right - now that seems crazy except that it was based on a psychological insight. If you show someone you are on their side on an issue that is close to their heart, it becomes much easier to nudge them on other issues. O'CONNOR: It seemed that what they were doing was trying to use shared beliefs and values to ground trust with people. And then once they grounded that trust, they could use these different pages to try to drive polarization within the United States. VEDANTAM: That's right. INSKEEP: They're saying, I'm part of the Black Lives Matter tribe. You should listen to me - or some other tribe. VEDANTAM: That's exactly right. Now, what makes this devilish, Steve, is that this is how all of us learn nearly everything we know. We first figure out whom to trust. And then we learn from those people. So none of us can go out and learn everything about the world on our own. So the only way we can function is to rely on what O'Connor calls the testimony of others. Children trust their parents. Students trust teachers. Listeners trust NPR. And once you have gained that trust, you can exploit it. VEDANTAM: Well, in many ways, it's very difficult to guard against this because, in some ways, we are all vulnerable to believing those who seem to think like we do. Once I can convince you that I care about your issues, that I share your views, you become much more vulnerable to my manipulation. It's very hard to see how you could eliminate this without also eliminating all the useful things we learn from social trust. INSKEEP: I suppose it just means we have to spend a lot more work figuring out what is true - not only online but in our day-to-day interactions in life. VEDANTAM: And also to be skeptical about people who seem to agree with us. INSKEEP: Shankar, it seems like you're agreeing with me here, but I'm really kind of beginning to doubt what you say. VEDANTAM: (Laughter) I think that's right, Steve. INSKEEP: NPR's Shankar Vedantam - or so he says - he is a social science correspondent for NPR News, also the host of a podcast that explores the unseen patterns in human behavior. You can trust him. It's called Hidden Brain. (SOUNDBITE OF TIM ENGELHARDT'S "SAWTOOTH ORCHESTRA") Copyright 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPRs programming is the audio record.

https://www.npr.org/2019/01/22/687319805/why-did-so-many-americans-trust-russian-hackers-election-propaganda?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=morningedition

Is Star Bulk Carriers Corp. a Buy?

Through the first nine months of 2018, Star Bulk Carriers Corp. (NASDAQ: SBLK) saw revenue roughly double over the same period in the previous year. Adjusted EBITDA rose from around $72.4 million to $178.5 million in the span. And during the third-quarter conference call, management explained that it has a pretty strong outlook for the bulk carrier industry right now. So far, Star Bulk Carriers Corp. sound like a solid buy, but read this before you jump aboard. Taking a lay of the land (or sea in this case) Star Bulk owns 112 dry-bulk ships (a couple are still being built, with expected delivery dates in early 2019) spread across the various industry standard sizes. These are the vessels that carry "bulk" commodities like coal and iron ore from where they are mined/grown to where they get used. Bulk carriers are vital assets in the fabric of world trade, and Star Bulk is one of the largest U.S. listed names in the space. A bulk carrier ship in the ocean More Image source: Getty Images. At the end of the third quarter, long-term debt made up around 45% of the company's capital structure. That's a figure to keep in mind, though it's not an outlandish number for a company that has to invest in expensive, long-lived assets like massive boats. And at this point, Star Bulk doesn't expect material new-build costs in the future, because it has already paid for the small number of bulk carriers it has on order. The only major expense it has over the next year or so is installing scrubbers on its fleet, which will allow its ships to use lower-cost fuels (helping keep operating costs down) while still complying with increasingly stringent environmental regulations. At an average cost of around $2 million per boat, though, that cost could, erring on the side of caution, add about $200 million in debt to the company's balance sheet. That would leave long-term debt at a still reasonable 50% or so of the capital structure. Meanwhile, Star Bulk management has a pretty positive outlook for the next couple of years. According to CEO Petros Pappas, a combination of slower boat speeds, industrywide scrapping of older vessels, and a relatively modest pace of new construction should reduce bulk capacity by an annual rate of about 2% over the near term. Demand, meanwhile, is expected to increase by as much as 2.9% a year. No wonder the prices Star Bulk has been able to charge customers have been strong lately, increasing 50% year over year in the third quarter. This positive outlook also helps explain why the company's fleet utilization could remain high, with utilization through the first nine months of 2018 at roughly 99%. The fly in the ointment Star Bulk may still sound like a great investment opportunity, especially since the stock is up more than 400% over the past three years. And it might be, but it's also a fairly risky one that's only appropriate for aggressive investors...and investors with strong feelings about the prices Star Bulk can charge its customers.

https://news.yahoo.com/star-bulk-carriers-corp-buy-013500133.html

What nurtures a kids entrepreneurial spirit?

When Campbell Baron was 9 years old, he had a lemonade stand. But unlike other young lemonade proprietors, who hang out their shingle for one day and scamper off to the candy store with their revenues, Campbell reviewed his numbers. Campbell Baron, a 15-year-old Toronto entrepreneur, right, interviews Michael Dubin, the founder and CEO of Dollar Shave Club, for Barons new podcast and video series, The Ones Who Succeed. ( Campbell Baron ) Earnings were $15, but since his parents had insisted he pay for the lemonade ingredients and cups himself, profits were around $5. He took that $5 and went to the store to buy smaller cups. Then I remember the second or third day profiting around $100, Campbell said. He paid his little brother, Nicholas, about $30 for being an employee his advertising person who helped bring the clients to the table. Article Continued Below Campbell also gathered his clients email addresses and created a frequent customer reward system with cards that hed stamp so thirsty repeat patrons could earn a free glass. Soon he had the cash to get a Playmobil yacht hed had his eye on at a store down the street from their home on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, where his family lived at the time. He was sold on the entrepreneurial life. Ever since that lemonade stand, I always knew I was going to be an entrepreneur for the rest of my life. There was something that clicked there. Now 15 and living in Toronto, Campbell has since launched several ventures, the latest of which is his new podcast and video series The Ones Who Succeed, featuring his interviews with A-list entrepreneurs. Campbells story offers some key lessons on what drives a young business mind and what parenting practices help nurture that entrepreneurial spirit. His guest on Episode 1 is Michael Dubin, the founder and CEO of Dollar Shave Club, which was purchased by Unilever for a reported $1 billion (U.S.) in 2016. But this is no vanity project funded by Campbells mom and dad. In keeping with their stand on making him pay for his own lemonade supplies, Campbell raised the funds for a full season of his show which involves flying to various locations to interview his guests by hustling up a sponsor for the project before it got off the ground. With skills his parents taught him through his earlier ventures, including a successful video production company that he launched at age 13. Campbell J. Baron Videos shot and edited social media commercials for a wide range of brands, including SleepCountry Canada and Pinkberry, a frozen yogurt company. I was very lucky, Campbell says. My parents both came from a service business background, so they taught me skills such as cold emailing, and being persistent and following up. Article Continued Below Through those cold emails, Campbell managed to convince online learning platform Skillshare that by featuring a teenage host, The Ones Who Succeed could offer a unique take on the usual entrepreneurial interview show. The California-based company funded the full first season. In another point of differentiation, Campbell is producing a short video version of each interview and running a longer audio interview on the podcast. This allows him to play in the YouTube space, where he cut his teeth as an entrepreneur once hed matured past his lemonade stand years. I wanted to know what Campbells parents, Robert and Lilli Baron, thought about all of this. They first realized the eldest of their two sons was business minded when he overcame their lukewarm response to the idea of his Manhattan lemonade stand, which for starters required a permit from building management to set up out front. Then he accepted their reality check about revenue and expenses. You need investment money and thats your father and I, his mom explained. Well go buy your supplies with you, but then whatever profit you make youll have to pay your investors back first. Once he demonstrated his ability to improve margins by reducing cup size, it was clear hed be sticking with his first business for a while. The approximately six-month venture was such a reliable source of cash for Campbell that he could almost use it like an ATM machine, Robert says. Wed be over at a friends on a Sunday and hed say, Im losing daylight here. Ive got to get back and sell lemonade. Asked what aspects of their parenting they believe have helped nurture his business mind, his mom and dad point to their free-range parenting style and honest feedback. We dont coddle them, Robert says. They both rode the subway when Campbell was in Grade 6 and Nick in Grade 4. Some people were aghast, but they had a cellphone and they were in touch. The Barons encourage their kids in their respective interests (Nicholas loves athletics), but we also dont believe that the sun shines out of the top of their heads. That means they dont let fear of hurt feelings dissuade them from giving constructive feedback, Robert says. When Campbell was running his video production company, hed get the straight goods when hed show his parents his latest client videos. I can remember one occasion when I said, Im not that impressed. I dont think its that interesting. Its not your best work. The feedback wasnt easy for Campbell to hear, but it did give him information he needed to refine his skills. Campbell attends Grade 10 at a Toronto alternative school and has some flexibility to be on the road to produce the show, as well as academic credit for some of his work on the business side. But juggling everything hasnt been easy, he says. I dont take any days off maybe a Saturday once in a while if I want to ski. Its required making some sacrifices, but its definitely well worth it. Asked what he hopes other kids will take away from watching and listening to The Ones Who Succeed, and from his entrepreneurial journey, Campbell has a humble response. Im not gifted. Im not a genius or anything. But I do think Im a really hard worker and I think that can be taught. And hard work was definitely what got me to this spot and helped me manage school and my business. Brandie Weikle writes about parenting issues and is the host of The New Family Podcast and editor of thenewfamily.com. Follow her on Twitter: @bweikle

https://www.thestar.com/life/parent/opinion/2019/01/23/what-nurtures-a-kids-entrepreneurial-spirit.html

What Would a "Green New Deal" Look Like for Architecture?

Newly elected Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez got tongues wagging this month when she championed a plan for a Green New Deal, and drafted a proposal to kickstart the committee that would create it. While shes not the first to suggest the idea, timing and the cultural climate are apt for a renewal of the discussion. Ocasio-Cortezs plan, which emphasizes decarbonization, job creation, and social and economic justice, is politically audaciousit aims for 100 percent renewable energy within 12 yearsbut in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)'s most recent warning that the world has about a decade to get climate change under control if we are to thwart its worst effects. With close to half of all greenhouse gas emissions coming from the built environment, architects and designers should feel welcome wading into the conversation. In the past, buildings were designed to hold people and things and to receive energy along a one-way artery from a faraway grid. Under a Green New Deal, that way of building would be considered outdated and obsolete. Instead, buildings would be considered mini power plants that can not only produce enough energy to supply their own needs, but also fuel vehicles and send excess energy back to the grid. Engineer testing solar panels at sunny power plant Photo: Caiaimage / Trevor Adeline / Getty Images More Theres a loosening of the boundaries around things that define energytheyre not siloed anymore, says Jacob Corvidae, a principal at the Rocky Mountain Institute's Buildings Practice. Suddenly, a building is not just a building. Corvidae believes all new construction should already be held to such standards. We should stop the bleeding now, he explains. If you dont build it to zero-energy now, you run the risk of being obsolete in ten years. In other words, any building not designed to meet net-zero-energy standards is already archaic. A Green New Deal would inject capital, job training, and manufacturing incentives into the system, accelerating the pace of a green economy. Building green infrastructure would be a major source of employment, and would help establish better social and economic equity, too; reliable, multimodal transit infrastructure to and from working-class neighborhoods would provide access to more jobs, schools, grocery stores, and other essentials they may currently be isolated from. Better infrastructure also builds resiliency for those communitiesan important element in the face of ever more extreme weather events. Design that considers this helps ensure that some communities aren't marginalized and isolated afterward, and considers environmental impact, too. Having lived through Hurricane Harvey, its so important to recognize that we are living in transitional times where the transformation of the built environment for resilience is key, says Rives Taylor, sustainability leader at Gensler in Houston. This means not building in a way where we have to throw away much distressed or damaged material after events like this. Germany, Tuebingen, ecological multi-family houses at French quarter Photo: Getty Images More

https://news.yahoo.com/green-deal-look-architecture-201524029.html

What Are The 25 Best Jobs In The U.K. And How Much Do They Pay According To Glassdoor?

Audit manager has come #1 in Glassdoors annual 25 best jobs in the UK survey, followed by finance manager at #2 and marketing manager at # 3, see the full list below. The results are also notable for all but one of the salaries being flat compared to last year and, in several cases including audit manager, actually having decreased year-on-year. Onwards and upwards The rise of the audit manager - from #3 in 2017 to #2 last year and #1 today - can be explained by the methodology of the survey despite the role's declining earning potential. Glassdoor ranks jobs not just by median base salary (that is the amount paid before any extras) but also overall satisfaction and number of openings. Our own research showed the status and reputation of audit managers has gone up fast because of the fallout from the financial crisis, says Ian Peters, the CEO of the Chartered Institute of Internal Auditors. In the immediate aftermath, the professional body worked with the Financial Conduct Authority and two other regularity bodies to produce a financial services code which included new requirements such as heads of audit having direct access to the CEO and the executive committee. Theres more influence and authority around auditing so it is far more attractive and satisfying to do compared to the past, continues Peters. A new reliance on audit has not been restricted to the private sector. The state of government finances following the crisis and pressure on resources led central government to launch the Government Internal Audit Agency in 2015 which now employs 450 people in 65 locations. Bumping along It is ironic, therefore, that just as the Glassdoor survey reflects auditor managers satisfaction at their new-found influence within the workplace and the increased number of job opportunities, the role is one of several to show a year-on-year decline in salaries. Audit manager has seen a 13% decline in two years, or 7,500. It is not alone. Finance manager has seen a 12% decline in salary; marketing manager has slipped 6% in earnings and even commercial manager 12%. It is only as employees try to move jobs - from one company to another, from the private to the public sector or promoted within an organisation to managerial level - that they are likely to become aware of this decline in their earning potential. The situation has not been helped that employees have been battling with what are in effect stagnating wage growth. Weve been in a relatively low inflation and low pay rise environment, seen at most levels of salaries, says Stefan Stern, Visiting Professor at Cass Business School and former director of the High Pay Centre. The Office for National Statistics shows an annual earnings growth for managers, directors and senior officials of 2% in 2018 following a mere 1.6% the year before. Money isn't everything If there have been some higher salaries it is to get people through the door such as starting levels and key functions. But that is not spreading to rest of the workplace, says Charles Cotton. Nor to people at managerial level. And if we are seeing more jobs from the voluntary sector and not-for-profit sectors, they will have an impact because they cannot match salaries in the private sector, continues the Performance and Reward Advisor of the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Of course, uncertainty over Brexit has impacted investment along with other headwinds such as the threat of a U.S-China trade war. Luckily, and as these results indicate, we dont just go to work to pay the mortgage. Businesses nervous about the economy need to be imaginative and think more widely about reward than just cash, says Stern. What we are interested in is intrinsic motivation and salary is not that." 25 best jobs in the U.K. the complete results 1. Audit manager (up from #3 last year*) Job score: 4.6 Job satisfaction rating: 4.5 Number of job openings: 1,124 Median base salary: 52,000 2. Finance manager (up from #4*) Job score: 4.5 Job satisfaction rating: 3.8 Number of job openings: 2,001 Median base salary: 60,000 3. Marketing manager (down from #1*) Job score: 4.4 Job satisfaction rating: 3.9 Number of job openings: 1,966 Median base salary: 42,500 4. Product manager (no change*) Job score: 4.4All Posts Job satisfaction rating: 3.8 Number of job openings: 1,697 Median base salary: 52,500 5. Sales manager (new entry*) Job score: 4.4 Job satisfaction rating: 3.8 Number of job openings: 2,795 Median base salary: 42,000 6. Risk manager (new entry*) Job score: 4.3 Job satisfaction rating: 3.9 Number of job openings: 1,111 Median base salary: 60,000 7. Data scientist (up from #17*) Job score: 4.3 Job satisfaction rating: 4.0 Number of job openings: 995 Median Base Salary: 46,000 8. Operations manager (down from #2*) Job score: 4.3 Job satisfaction rating: 3.7 Number of job openings: 2,226 Median base salary: 42,000 9. Design manager (new entry*) Job score: 4.3 Job satisfaction rating: 4.1 Number of job openings: 719 Median base salary: 55,000 10. Business analyst (down from #9*) Job score: 4.3 Job satisfaction Rating: 3.7 Number of job openings: 2,949 Median base salary: 40,000 11. Front end developer (new entry*) Job score: 4.3 Job satisfaction rating: 4.0 Number of job openings: 1,841 Median base salary: 35,000 12. Commercial manager (down from #8*) Job score: 4.2 Job satisfaction rating: 4.0 Number of job openings: 701 Median base salary: 57,000 13. Business development manager (down from #11*) Job score: 4.2 Job satisfaction rating: 3.7 Number of job openings: 3,915 Median base salary: 37,060 14. Project manager (down from #10*) Job score: 4.2 Job satisfaction rating: 3.6 Number of job openings: 7,320 Median base salary: 39,000 15. HR manager (down from #6*) Job score: 4.2 Job satisfaction rating: 4.1 Number of job openings: 664 Median base salary: 49,000 16. Contract manager (down from #7*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 3.7 Number of job openings: 1,687 Median base salary: 40,000 17. Communication manager (up from #18*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 4.1 Number of job openings: 651 Median base salary: 43,700 18. Software engineer (down from #12*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 3.5 Number of job openings: 4,876 Median base salary: 43,000 19. Executive assistant (up from #25*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 4.1 Number of job openings: 853 Median Base Salary: 37,000 20. HR business partner (down from #13*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 3.8 Number of job openings: 753 Median base salary: 49,000 21. Engagement manager (up from #24*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 4.3 Number of job openings: 405 Median base salary: 48,000 22. Web developer (new entry*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 3.9 Number of job openings: 1,586 Median base salary: 31,000 23. Recruiter (down from #19*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 4.4 Number of job openings: 2,862 Median base salary: 25,000 24. Solutions architect (down from #14*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 3.4 Number of job openings: 1,597 Median base salary: 70,000 25. Software developer (new entry*) Job score: 4.1 Job satisfaction rating: 3.5 Number of job openings: 3,088 Median base salary: 37,000 * see previous years results.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnwelsheurope/2019/01/23/what-are-the-25-best-jobs-in-the-u-k-and-how-much-do-they-pay-according-to-glassdoor/

Who are the UK yellow vest protesters?

Hundreds of people put on high-visibility jackets in imitation of French protesters as they marched in central London against government cuts. Organisers from The People's Assembly Against Austerity described Saturday's march as the arrival in the UK of the "yellow vests" movement that rocked France in November 2018. They even brought two campaigners from across the Channel to seal the relationship. But they are not the only group to claim the spirit of the yellow vests, with pro-Brexit demonstrators outside Parliament also putting on high-vis jackets. The French connection "English people, you look good in yellow!" said a message on the jacket of Erick Simon. He is one of the gilet jaunes, as they are known in France, who travelled from Normandy with fellow organiser, Laurie Martin. Ms Martin said she came "to support the British because our demands are the same as those fighting austerity across Europe". Image caption French protesters Erick Simon and Laurie Martin wore messages of support Many protesters said they had been inspired by events in France. Kylie Crawley said she wanted to stand against cuts to services for her 17-year-old daughter, Kacee, who has Down's syndrome. "To me the French yellow vests were ordinary people wanting to get out and tell people how bad things had got and how they wanted change," she said. Image caption Kylie Crawley bought yellow vests online, including for daughter Kacee Jim Scott, who got up at 04:00 GMT to travel from west Wales to the protest, said the vests had become a powerful "symbol for change". "They're facing the same things in France: austerity, cuts to public services, expanding the gap between rich and poor. That's how this movement has started." As the march began, one protester cried, "Let's show the French what we can do!" Meanwhile, another group of protesters was outside Parliament, also in yellow vests. They waved the union jack, burned EU flags and denounced "left-wing scum". "We're not far right, we're just right," they chanted. In France, Interior Minister Christophe Castaner has said violent far-right and far-left groups have both infiltrated the gilet jaunes protests. But Tom Griffiths from the People's Assembly, which organised the UK anti-austerity march, said that because the movement had "burst out of the streets", it meant different things to different people. He said marchers, who carried banners in support of migrants, stood against racism and fascism. "We are absolutely not allowing the far right to take over the yellow vest movement in this country. They've been forced out the yellow vest movement in France and they'll be forced out the yellow vest movement in this country," he said. Image caption "The issues are the same, here and in France," said Katerina Kohler For some, the jackets sent out a message of togetherness. Katerina Kohler, who was at the People's Assembly stall selling them for 3 each, said: "It gives us a nice unity for people all to wear the vests." Some marchers declined to wear the high-vis jackets in case the symbolism might be misinterpreted, however. Antonia Bright, a campaigner with the anti-racism group Movement for Justice, said she wanted to "steer away from white populism". "I don't need it to march for what I am standing for," she said. On Saturday, France put 80,000 police officers on duty to cope with thousands of gilets jaunes demonstrators across the country. In London, by contrast, hundreds of people attended the anti-austerity march. BBC home affairs correspondent Daniel Sandford said the pro-Brexit demonstration was smaller and attracted between 200 and 300 people. The French protests were a grassroots movement, born online, and initially targeted against fuel taxes. The yellow vests were used as a symbol because every French driver is legally required to carry one in their vehicle. In the UK, protesters said they either bought their jackets online, picked them up at the stall or, in several cases, already had one they used for stewarding at other protests. Image caption Sharon Stafford-Jones and Debbie Hutchins were protesting against changes to women's pensions And while the French protesters were outside of established political organisations, the British anti-austerity march brought together several trade unions and campaign groups, and was attended by Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell. Many attendees said they hoped the movement grew in the UK to become as powerful as its French counterpart. Sharon Stafford-Jones said she had been in France recently where she said there was "a wonderful community spirit coming together" over the protests. But Jeremy Jennings, professor of political theory at King's College London, was sceptical about whether the movement would translate. He said: "The situation in France is pretty desperate. I can see why someone would want to try and use that mobilisation in Britain, but I'd be surprised if it took off."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-46851713

Can authors still make a living?

Except for a relatively small group of authors churning out bestsellers, writing has never been a lucrative career choice. But a report by the Authors Guild, a professional organization for book writers, shows that it may not even be a livable one anymore. According to the report, the median pay for full-time writers was $20,300 in 2017, and that number fell to $6,080 when part-time writers were considered. The latter figure reflects a 42 percent drop since 2009, when the median was $10,500. These findings are the result of an expansive 2018 study of more than 5,000 published book authors, across genres and including both traditional and self-published writers. In the 20th century, a good literary writer could earn a middle-class living just writing, said Mary Rasenberger, executive director of the guild. Now, most writers need to supplement their income with speaking engagements or teaching. Strictly book-related income which is to say royalties and advances are also down, almost 30 percent for full-time writers since 2009. Writing for magazines and newspapers was once a solid source of additional income for professional writers, but the decline in freelance journalism and pay has meant less opportunity for authors. Many print publications, which offered the highest rate, have been shuttered altogether. The decline in earnings also is tied to the self-publishing, e-book and resale markets, according to Rasenberger. Small and independent publishers, which have fewer resources and bargaining power, have been particularly hard hit. Book publishing companies are passing these losses along to writers in the form of lower royalties and advances. Authors also lose out on income from books resold on the internet. The writing industry as a whole has always eluded standardization in pay. The people who are able to practice the trade of authoring are people who have other sources of income, said Manjula Martin, one of the authors of the book Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living. This creates barriers of entry and limits the types of stories that reach a wide audience. There is also, she added, a devaluation of writing in which it is often viewed as a hobby as opposed to a vocation. Everyone thinks they can write, because everybody writes, said Rasenberger, pointing to the proliferation of blogging. But she distinguishes these from professional writers who have been working on their craft and art of writing for years. What a professional writer can convey in written word is far superior to what the rest of us can do, Rasenberger said. As a society we need that, because its a way to crystallize ideas, make us see things in a new way and create understanding of who we are as a people, where we are today and where were going.

http://www.startribune.com/can-authors-still-make-a-living/504703122/

Has Trump turned his back on Europe?

For generations, American presidents have saved some of their warmest words for their European colleagues. They came to the Berlin Wall and spoke of freedom - and, after it fell, they spoke of a new era of co-operation with a rebuilt Europe. But in the era of Donald Trump, leaders across the continent now know that those days have gone. John F Kennedy's "Ich bin ein Berliner," declaration, Ronald Reagan's 1987 message to Moscow: "Mr Gorbachev tear down this wall," George HW Bush's promises of collaboration after the Cold War and Barack Obama's warm words about binding ties across the Atlantic are all now distant memories. With every visit to Europe and every White House tweet about the cost of Nato or EU tariffs, this president makes it clear that he believes Europe is more often an impediment than an ally. None of his predecessors would have dreamed of calling the EU a "foe", as President Trump did in a recent interview about trade. With Europe embroiled in its Brexit difficulties, which leave so many questions unanswered, its leaders also find themselves scrambling to work out what it might mean if these old ties with the United States continue to unravel. That was what German Chancellor Angela Merkel was contemplating when she said, a few months ago, that it was time for Europe to take its destiny into its own hands. It was instructive to spend a few days in Berlin recently and to hear over and over again a version of these words. As Daniela Schwarzer, from the German Council on Foreign Relations think tank, put it: "The United States, with its 'America first' approach, has put Europe and Germany into the space of a strategic competitor, if not even an enemy." Image copyright Getty Images Many of the journalists who watched Donald Trump's inaugural presidential address two years ago - in which the "America first" phrase became the theme of a nationalist marching song - wondered how far he would go. It seems not. Karen Donfried, who served as President Obama's European adviser, told me: "I would not assume that whoever follows Donald Trump goes back to where we were pre-Trump, because you can't. "Those four or eight years that Donald Trump is president will have changed the relationship and changed the US role in the world, so it will be different." Think of a rolling crisis on Europe's eastern border - between Ukraine and Russia. Since the contentious annexation of Crimea in 2014 - which the Obama administration declared illegal and a reason for sanctions on Russia - there has been a series of clashes that have made it clear Vladimir Putin is not interested in taking the pressure off. Why Ukraine-Russia sea clash is fraught with risk That is likely to be obvious in the run-up to the Ukrainian presidential election in March. But, in Washington, Donald Trump has shown little interest in the concern across Europe - especially in Poland and Germany - about President Putin's expansionist policy. Image copyright Getty Images Instead of promoting a collective approach, he has preferred his characteristic man-to-man style of negotiating, claiming that he rescued his relationship with President Putin in one conversation, a two-hour closed summit in Helsinki in July 2018. Trump-Putin summit: After Helsinki, the fallout at home But in Angela Merkel's office, there was incredulity that the White House didn't consult its allies before that meeting with the Russian president and that it passed on almost nothing afterwards, beyond what emerged via Twitter. Find out more: James Naughtie presents America's Friends on BBC Radio 4 on Monday, 14 January, at 20:00 GMT and Wednesday, 16 January, at 11:00 GMT. Or you can listen again after broadcast via the BBC Radio 4 website or BBC Sounds. "The Americans are our most important ally and we know how much we depend on the American contribution to our defence and security in the EU," said David McAllister, German-born to a Scots father, an MEP for Angela Merkel's CDU party, and one of her closest colleagues. "But it's now about strengthening the European pillar within Nato, because under this president - and perhaps also under the next president - we might see less appetite in Washington to get involved in our immediate neighbourhood if it might be necessary." So, rethinking is needed inside Nato. But that challenge is coming at an awkward moment: Angela Merkel is stepping down in two years, meaning Europe's dominant political figure will be gone. In Berlin, I also spoke to retired American diplomat John Kornblum, who followed the course of the Cold War from the 1960s to the end, and then became the US's German ambassador. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Ronald Reagan's call to Mikhail Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall in June 1987 was one of the most significant acts of his presidency He wrote much of that 1987 Reagan speech, delivered at a time when Western objectives were much clearer than they are today. "Europe is at a crossroads," he told me. "It's now almost 30 years since the end of the Cold War. Europe is in a much weaker, less independent, less stable condition today than it was 30 years ago. And that's an unfortunate thing to say but it's true." It's easier to ask the questions than to find the answers. That's the tenor of these times. What everyone does now know is that Europe and the United States, however much they retain their shared values, have to re-engineer their relationship as together they negotiate a new age of uncertainty.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46798192

Which is the world's most LGBT-friendly city?

Even when cities seem progressive on the surface, the lived experience of members of the LGBT community can tell a dramatically different story Amid a mass of colour and pounding Latin rhythms, revellers at this years Bogot Pride march waved banners stating not one step back. They were among tens of thousands who took to the streets to celebrate and support Colombias LGBT community. Many annual Pride marches that were once solemn protests against repression have become celebrations of now-existing rights or progress, reflecting the strength of LGBT communities. In Bogot, for example, the capital of a macho and socially conservative country, there has been surprising progress in LGBT rights. In March, Anglica Lozano Correa, a former member of the Bogot city council, became the first openly LGBT person to be elected to the countrys Senate. In 2016 the countrys government passed laws allowing same-sex couples to adopt and marry, and the previous year it granted transgender people the right to change their identity on official government documents policies which have allowed more equality and openness. But while these laws and political representation might suggest Bogot is friendly and tolerant of the LGBT community, the issue is not clear-cut. This years Bogot Pride march was marked by an undertone of resistance to and fear of the right-wing government of the new president, Ivan Duque. Duque openly opposes the LGBT-inclusive peace agreement his predecessor, Juan Manuel Santos, signed with leftist rebels Farc in 2016. Activists claim he is also against same-sex marriage and adoption rights. Although the government promised there would be no setbacks to LGBT rights, the appointment of several anti-LGBT officials, cuts in resources for public policies and the continued strengthening of radical religious movements that promote hate speech and misinformation against the LGBT population are worrying, says Marcela Snchez, director of Colombia Diversa, a leading LGBT rights organisation. Facebook Twitter Pinterest A man decorates his facade with clothes of the rainbow flag in Spain during the week of Pride celebrations. Photograph: Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images Rough measures Indeed, determining a citys attitude towards the LGBT community is complex. Studies that try to do this often look at political or legal metrics such as freedom to marry, or laws protecting against discrimination. Equaldex, a collaborative knowledge base for the global LGBT movement that maps the legality of homosexuality, identifies a number of factors including freedom to change gender and to adopt although it hasnt ranked countries or cities in order of best to worst. An index from the Human Rights Campaign looks at municipal services, law enforcement and the city leaderships public position on equality across the US. Seventy-eight out of 506 US cities had a perfect score of 100, for reasons such as introducing trans-inclusive health benefits to city employees, as in Brookings, South Dakota. Birmingham, Alabama, obtained a full score for passing comprehensive nondiscrimination ordinances, along with other cities such as Cleveland in Ohio, a state that had previously prohibited same-sex marriage and civil unions. However, the Human Rights Campaign clearly states its index does not and cannot reflect a citys friendliness. Other global surveys have tried to assess friendliness by covering public attitudes, access to nightlife and personal safety. A 2017 survey by the housing website Nestpick ranked the best LGBT cities by asking thousands of people how friendly they felt their city was based on safety and nightlife. Madrid, Amsterdam and Toronto came out as the top three. Facebook Twitter Pinterest San Francisco has the biggest proportion of LGBT residents in the US. Photograph: Brigitte MERLE/Getty Images/Photononstop RF Modern strongholds for LGBTQI culture remain in western Europe and Canada, says Merryn Johns, editor and chief for Curve, a lesbian-focused magazine in New York. Arguably the size of the LGBT population in urban areas could reflect the level of friendliness, as many LGBTI folk head to cities from rural areas because of the promise of a freer, more tolerant life there, says Andr du Plessis, executive director of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association. A study of US metro areas found San Francisco has the biggest proportion of LGBT residents in the country at 6.2%, followed by Portland and Austin. San Francisco has often been called the gay capital of the world for its culture of tolerance and vibrant scene. But even when cities seem progressive on the surface, the lived experience of members of the LGBT community can tell a dramatically different story. For a certain social strata [sic], Cape Town and Johannesburg are gay meccas, but at the same time black lesbians living in poor areas there are dealing with violence and targeted rape, says Graeme Reid, director of the LGBT rights programme at Human Rights Watch. A study in 2017 found that four in 10 LGBT South Africans know of someone who has been killed for being or suspected of being LGBT. Black members of this community are twice as likely (49%) as white people (26%) to know of an LGBT person who has been murdered. Even in London and Paris, which both have a reputation of being queer-friendly cities, hate crimes have increased in recent years. A report from Stonewall in 2017 found that 25% of Londons LGBT community had experienced harassment or assault. Brazils second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro, has been branding itself as an LGBT tourist destination for years. It has made huge efforts in providing anti-bullying projects aimed at students, and has outlawed discrimination in nightclubs. However, the last year has seen record numbers of violent attacks against the queer community. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro once said: Yes, Im homophobic and very proud of it. Photograph: Evaristo Sa/AFP/Getty Images And with a newly elected far-right government, there are fears it could get worse. With the election of an openly homophobic president, Jair Bolsonaro, who has infamously said he would rather have a dead son than a gay son, Rios reputation as a destination city may falter, and violence increase, Reid says. Rio is seen as a liberated city, but also has high levels of [homophobic] violence. Gay Disneyland Conversely, in some countries with backward and dangerous attitudes to the LGBT community, such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, discreet but vibrant underground scenes can thrive. This is even the case in Russia, where activists say two people were killed last week and nearly 40 detained, as part of a new homophobic crackdown by police in the Chechnya region. Youll find a gay scene in many places that may surprise you, says Ed Salvato, an LGBT travel expert. Some places like Moscow and St Petersburghave vibrant gay communities, despite the homophobic laws there. In Dublin, an exciting scene exploded out of a staunchly Catholic country. Dublin is like gay Disneyland now, and that wasnt the case 20 or 30 years ago, says Prof Andrew Reynolds, founder of the University of North Carolinas LGBTQ Representation and Rights Research Initiative. With the last couple of referendums, Ireland and Dublin have embraced their new presentation as an inclusive, progressive and loving place. When Reynolds visited Ireland in 2016, many from the LGBT population told him stories of growing up in conservative coastal towns and moving away due to prejudice. The country was the first to legalise gay marriage by popular vote, in a 2015 referendum with a yes vote of 62%. He says: They went to Australia. They went to America. Now theyve come home. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ireland became the first country in the world to adopt same-sex marriage by popular vote in 2015. Photograph: Cathal McNaughton/Reuters Progress in politics The political glass ceiling has broken for many LGBT people across the world, which inevitably has ripple effects on the community. Minneapolis made US history last year by electing Andrea Jenkins, the first openly trans woman of colour to office in 2017. The gay stronghold of Palm Springs, California, has elected an entire city council that identifies as LGBT. And in November, Jared Polis became the first openly gay man to be elected as a US state governor. In Poland, one of Europes most Catholic and conservative countries, voters in the small city of Slupsk this year elected a gay atheist mayor, Robert Biedron. Just a few years ago, Biedron was attacked on the streets of his city because of his sexuality. In Kathmandu, Nepal, Sunil Pant became Asias first openly gay federal-level elected official in 2008, resulting in a spate of public scrutiny. I think that the spinoff is that Kathmandu is a lot more gay-friendly than it was before, says Reynolds. Whilst it is not perfect by any stretch, like Bogot, it is a place now that I feel like is much more friendly and accepting and thats obviously coming from a place where the Hindu religion was not helpful before. LGBT London: what venue closures mean for the capital's future Read more As the most direct representatives of citizens, city officials are uniquely positioned to understand and address the needs of their communities, says Xavier Persad of the Human Rights Campaign, pointing to the need to provide for ones family without the fear of being fired, to secure housing without the fear of eviction, and to participate in community life. When cities enact LGBTQ-inclusive protections, he adds, they send a clear message that they value and welcome everyone, attracting the countrys top talent and spurring economic growth. Ultimately, even the most progressive laws and equal representation at political levels do not necessarily reflect the efficiency of enforcement, or indeed capture the lived experience of discrimination and fear many LGBT people face every day. Follow Guardian Cities on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram to join the discussion, and explore our archive here

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2019/jan/23/which-is-the-worlds-most-lgbt-friendly-city

What will Andy Murray be worth in retirement?

Image copyright Getty Images As Andy Murray's retirement moves a step closer following his defeat by Roberto Bautista Agut in the Australian Open, the tennis star remains poised to continue making as big an impact off court as he did on it. With a burgeoning range of business interests the Scot - never one to shirk speaking his mind - has the power to remain vividly in the public consciousness whichever route he chooses to go down. There is talk of him potentially moving into the world of politics or media analysis, while current business interests include property ownership, backing UK start-up firms and talent representation. 'Strong legacy' But one lucrative sphere which will provide a huge chunk of his post-playing earnings will be that of brand endorsement. A number of major sports stars, from footballer David Beckham, to golfer Greg Norman, and basketball stars such as Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson have shown it is possible to continue earning strongly through the selling power of their personality and sporting legacy. Murray set to have statue at Wimbledon His career prize money ranks fourth all-time among male players, behind his three eternal rivals from the so-called "Big Four" players of his generation - namely Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Murray picked up his second Wimbledon men's trophy in 2016 According to US business bible Forbes, Murray will end his playing days with at least $165m (129m) in career earnings, with prize money making up just $61m, and the bulk - some $100m - coming from endorsements, bonuses and appearance fees. Over the years he has been associated with a number of major firms, including Adidas, Under Armour, Head, Jaguar, Standard Life, Highland Spring, Robinsons, Royal Bank of Scotland, Fred Perry and Tag Heuer. And Murray's rough-round-the-edges personality is an asset which industry observers believe he can continue to use as a means of generating income when he hangs up his racquet. 'Authentic personality' "He is definitely different from the other top players," says brands expert Anastasia Kourovskaia, who has followed the 31-year-old's tennis and commercial career closely. "He has already created a strong legacy, one that has enabled him to keep his brand presence alive when he was fighting injury over the past 18 months. "The authenticity of his personality is his main asset. A lot of people are changed by success, but he is consistent. It is a fantastic quality from a marketing point of view." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Murray has 'fantastic qualities' that firms can use, experts say She says while he will not reach the same earnings level in retirement, there will still be companies looking to be associated with the three-time Grand Slam winner. Ms Kourovskaia says: "He has a great opportunity for leveraging his brand name when he stops playing, but in a way that suits his personality. "He will not be a David Beckham of British tennis, nor a Roger Federer - he will never be a global icon as they are. He has always been an 'outsider', whose success has been greatly assisted by his grit and doggedness. "From a marketing view he occupies a very tight niche - as long as he retains the same qualities and does not look to acquire a more glamorous image." Murray's exit at the 2019 Australian Open in Melbourne, an event which could become the swansong of his career, saw him wearing British sportswear brand Castore. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Scot's latest commercial deal was unveiled at a teary media conference The Scot's new sponsorship emerged over the weekend, where he held a teary news conference - wearing Castore's Johansson T-shirt and Ghost Cap - stating that he would be retiring from tennis this year after struggling with a hip injury. Castore replaced US firm Under Armour, which Murray had been with since signing a four-year deal in 2015. "He needs to choose brands that highlight him as an outsider, which is why the Castore deal was bang on," says Ms Kourovskaia. "He will be worth much more to a niche brand seeking to make, or build, exposure. "Castore is a British brand which has a high priority in widening its exposure, which is why it is a perfect deal for both parties," she says. 'Supporting entrepreneurs' Murray has won 45 career titles, including the trio of Grand Slams, and also won two Olympic singles gold medals. His peak earnings year was 2016 when he won nine titles, including Wimbledon, and led the ATP prize money chart with $16.3m. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Murray, who won his first major in the US in 2012, wants to make tennis more accessible In recent years, Murray has also moved outside the mainstream endorsement field, and invested and partnered with equity crowdfunding platform Seedrs in 2015. It focuses on business and technology start-ups, and currently has stakes in more than 30 ventures. He has in the past said that "giving recognition and support to British entrepreneurs is important to me". Last year he invested in Deuce, a new start-up app aimed to make tennis more accessible and affordable. It helps players find courts and coaching sessions around the UK. Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at Salford Business School, says: "While these investments may be a small proportion of his total income, and while they also may provide a potential future revenue stream, I see them as being part of an overall strategy to market Murray as a 'people's man' after his playing career. "He is good with kids, and he is an enlightened commentator on things like gender issues, so I see these investments in start-ups, including ones to make tennis more accessible, as part of his brand positioning." Meanwhile, property is another commercial interest. The 31-year-old bought Cromlix House hotel near his home town of Dunblane in 2013, turning it into a luxury venue. 'Strong convictions' Also in 2013 he set up his sports management agency, 77, with business advisers Matt Gentry and Gawain Davies and has signed up a number of young athletes, among them Aidan McHugh and Katie Swan from the emerging pool of young British tennis talent. And although it is unlikely that he is to become a globetrotting coach to other players, opening his own academy could be another route to go down. "He has already inspired the current generation of emerging British tennis players, so in some ways this sporting legacy is in place already," says Ms Kourovskaia. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A future as a tennis analyst in the media is another potential career path for Murray "But opening his own academy is definitely something he should consider, as it could only benefit him as a brand, and ultimately the country if new British players came through from it." Meanwhile, she says should the father of two girls - who has a dry sense of humour and has supported causes such as women's rights and Scottish independence in the past - go down a media or political route then his forthright outlook is an asset. "People like him for this, and it does not raise eyebrows as it might in, say, someone like Nadal. His strong convictions and strong views are also qualities that can be leveraged for him as a brand."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46863214

What time is the vote on Theresa May's Brexit deal?

After five days of debate on Theresa May's Brexit agreement, MPs will finally vote on the deal later. The final day of debate will end with a speech from the prime minister at about 18:20 GMT. But before the vote on the Brexit agreement happens, MPs will get a chance to reshape, or reject, the deal by voting on a series of amendments to it, from about 19:00 GMT. This will start with votes on three or four backbench amendments that could reshape the deal. Each amendment will take about 15 minutes. The vote on the withdrawal agreement itself is unlikely to happen before 20:00 and is expected to be followed by a statement from Mrs May. There will be live updates on the BBC News website and it will be broadcast on the BBC News channel or watch BBC Parliament live on BBC iPlayer. Amendments give MPs the chance to reshape, or reject, the deal. Commons Speaker John Bercow has selected four amendments to be put to the vote: Labour frontbench amendment Rejects the deal because it fails to provide a permanent customs union and "strong single market deal", as set out in Labour's "six tests" Rejects leaving with no deal Resolves to "pursue every option" that prevents either no-deal or leaving on the basis of the current deal SNP and Plaid Cymru amendment Declines to approve Theresa May's Brexit deal "in line with the views of the Scottish Parliament and the Welsh Assembly that they would be damaging for Scotland, Wales and the nations and regions of the UK as a whole" Calls for the UK's departure from the EU to be delayed until another withdrawal deal is agreed. Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh's amendment Makes clear the Northern Ireland backstop is temporary and should remain temporary Calls for assurance that, if the backstop doesn't end by the close of 2021, this will be treated as a fundamental change of circumstances and would terminate the Withdrawal Treaty on 1 January 2022 Backed by 15 other Tory Brexiteers. Conservative MP John Baron's amendment Gives the UK the right to terminate the Northern Ireland backstop without the agreement of the EU Amendment backed by cross-party group of Brexiteers, including 12 Conservatives, one independent and one DUP MP. John Bercow told MPs that if they back Sir Edward Leigh's amendment, John Baron's amendment will not be voted on. There is a question mark over how far the government's withdrawal agreement could be modified by MPs before it no longer has force under international law, or the EU judges it to be in breach of what was agreed by Mrs May. The government had indicated it would back an amendment proposed by Conservative MP Hugo Swire, which accepted the government's deal as the EU Withdrawal Bill but included provisions to: Make the government report to Parliament in March 2020 on the status of the arrangements to supersede the Northern Ireland backstop. This is the controversial "insurance policy" aimed at preventing the return of a physical border in Northern Ireland if the UK and EU have not agreed on a new trade deal by December 2020 Give Parliament a vote on whether to extend the 21-month post-Brexit transition period, which would end in December 2020 Give Parliament a vote on whether to implement the backstop Impose "a duty" on the government to agree a future relationship with the EU, or alternative arrangements, within one year of the backstop coming into force. But Speaker Bercow has not selected this amendment to be put to the vote, although MPs will be able to refer to it during the debate.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46507010

Will Molina Healthcare Continue to Surge Higher?

As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Molina Healthcare, Inc (MOH). As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Molina Healthcare, Inc MOH. The stock has moved higher by 0.7% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider MOHs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as MOH has earned itself a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012 2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%. This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/molina-healthcare-continue-surge-higher-113011103.html

Will Williams Companies Continue to Surge Higher?

As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Williams Companies, Inc. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Williams Companies, Inc. WMB. The stock has moved higher by 2.5% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider WMBs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as WMB has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012 2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%. This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Williams Companies, Inc. (The) (WMB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/williams-companies-continue-surge-higher-111511000.html

Will WNS (Holdings) Continue to Surge Higher?

On this episode of the Full-Court Finance podcast, Associate Stock Strategist Ben Rains breaks down Nike's new Bluetooth connected, self-lacing Adapt BB shoes before he dives into how they tie into the sportswear giant's overall digital growth plans. As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in WNS (Holdings) Limited WNS. The stock has moved higher by 1.6% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider WNSs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as WNS has earned itself a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012 2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%. This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report WNS (Holdings) Limited (WNS) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/wns-holdings-continue-surge-higher-111211724.html

Will Zai Lab Continue to Surge Higher?

As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Zai Lab Limited (ZLAB). As of late, it has definitely been a great time to be an investor in Zai Lab Limited ZLAB. The stock has moved higher by 24.3% in the past month, while it is also above its 20 Day SMA too. This combination of strong price performance and favorable technical, could suggest that the stock may be on the right path. We certainly think that this might be the case, particularly if you consider ZLABs recent earnings estimate revision activity. From this look, the companys future is quite favorable; as ZLAB has earned itself a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), meaning that its recent run may continue for a bit longer, and that this isnt the top for the in-focus company. You can see the complete list of todays Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. From more than 4,000 companies covered by the Zacks Rank, these 10 were picked by a process that consistently beats the market. Even during 2018 while the market dropped -5.2%, our Top 10s were up well into double-digits. And during bullish 2012 2017, they soared far above the market's +126.3%, reaching +181.9%. This year, the portfolio features a player that thrives on volatility, an AI comer, and a dynamic tech company that helps doctors deliver better patient outcomes at lower costs. Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Zai Lab Limited Unsponsored ADR (ZLAB) : Free Stock Analysis Report To read this article on Zacks.com click here. Zacks Investment Research

https://news.yahoo.com/zai-lab-continue-surge-higher-110811873.html

How does Brexit affect the pound?

Image copyright Getty Images During the past two years, the pound has had a rough time of things when it comes to its price against the dollar and other currencies. The immediate aftermath of the Brexit referendum saw sterling decline sharply in value. And as the vote on the UK's withdrawal deal from the European Union looms, further volatility is expected. Since June 2016, holidays and imported goods have become more expensive, but UK exports have been cheaper. It's a complex picture, though. Exporters, such as carmakers, are importers themselves, buying in raw materials such as oil or copper. While Britons living abroad but drawing a UK pension have suffered as the pound has declined. Since 1992, the pound has floated freely on currency markets, meaning that traders - buyers and sellers - determine what it's worth. When the pound rises in value, more of the currency is being bought. When it goes down, more is sold. "A free-floating currency is a very good thing, because it works as a safety valve," says Jane Foley, senior currency strategist at Rabobank. After the global financial crisis, countries whose economies suffered had weaker currencies. "Countries in the eurozone such as Greece and Spain had a strong euro they couldn't devalue," or reduce in value, she added, and for them, the safety valve was wage cuts. "The downside is when it comes on the back of political uncertainty," she said. "Goods become more expensive." In recent years, traders have been looking at politics, rather than economic data, which means faster trading, and a faster pace of change in the price. That's the volatility traders talk about. "If you think abut political uncertainty being bad, the worst outcome is a hard Brexit," says Ms Foley, because details of what will happen under those circumstances are so scarce. "If that's the worst case scenario, it [the pound] will rally if hard Brexit seems unlikely." Similarly, talk of putting Brexit on hold has boosted the pound, as it gives businesses more room to plan, she says. A softer Brexit could be good news for savers, according to CIBC's head of foreign exchange strategy, Jeremy Stretch. Currency experts think that a softer Brexit could provide a boost to the economy by providing confidence and certainty to companies and consumers who in turn may decide to spend more or take on more staff. That increased economic activity could prompt the Bank of England to raise interest rates, boosting returns for savers. "We could see an interest rate hike come the May meeting of the Bank of England, although it may be the case that they wait until August," according to Mr Stretch. "Moving towards a softer Brexit would help to alleviate the uncertainty that was impacting the economy in the latter stages of 2018." "Certainly since 2016, sterling is weaker," says Ms Foley. "Our wealth overseas has lessened." At the bureau de change, rates will be even worse than those on the financial market. That reflects their business costs including rent, staff, security and having lots of money ready. And if you buy your notes at the airport, convenience. BBC research shows that travellers have seen bureau de change rates fall in recent months as the pound as suffered against other currencies. But the value of the pound is always reflected in the price of another currency. Which means that since the referendum there are some currencies against which sterling has performed better, notably the Turkish lira and the Argentine peso. Interest rates and money-printing can also have an effect. Higher interest rates, and therefore returns, may attract more foreign buyers, which pushes up the value of the currency. Printing money, either literally or through the bond-buying programmes known as quantitative easing, has historically reduced the value of a currency by increasing its supply. But sometimes the effects can be minor. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Not all currencies have gained against the pound Another factor is the UK's current account deficit, says Jane Foley. That's where imports exceed the value of a nation's exports. A simple way of thinking about it is a deficit of savers, she says. "We need foreign savers to make up the shortfall. If they don't like what they see, they are more likely to pull their money out." That means selling pounds and a cheaper currency. "If we had a surplus, we would not be as vulnerable," she says. It explains why the pound is more volatile - why trading happens at a faster rate - than the yen. Japan has much domestic wealth to draw upon. Companies may buy currencies for a variety of reasons. A company wanting to buy a UK-based rival will need lots of sterling to do so. It may have to sell dollars or euros and buy sterling. Likewise, a company wanting to pay shareholders a slice of profits may need to bring UK sales home. They will sell their pounds. Then you have traders who think they know something others don't. They will make bets on the market, or speculation. "Customers I see are corporate customers who may have to buy energy, grain or some other component," says Ms Foley. "They have a natural need. It's an easy mistake thinking it's just speculators, making a quick buck." Events will determine how the pound performs in the short term, until some sort of resolution for Britain's departure from the EU comes about, said Ms Foley. The vote on Prime Minster Theresa May's Brexit deal will probably be the next event. Market-watchers have typically mixed views. "The pound will react to the extent and manner of the government's likely defeat in the vote, with a heavier defeat more likely to push down on an exchange rate that has already depreciated a great deal," said Gregory Thwaites, research director at WorldRemit and previously Head of International Research at the Bank of England. "In the unlikely event that the deal is passed, sterling will be likely to rally." "Should the withdrawal act be ratified on Tuesday, sterling will probably surge about 5% in value against the US dollar, but if December's failed attempt is anything to go by then the chances look slim," said Simon Harvey, market analyst at Monex Europe. Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at FXTM, said: "It is expected that the bill will be voted down, but this won't be the most significant factor influencing the pound's direction, it's what will happen next." He says options as diverse as a no-confidence vote in the government, an extension of Article 50, a new general election and a second referendum could mean very different things for the pound. "As of now, investors seem to be on wait-and-see mode."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46862790

Where will Sacramento put its new homeless shelters?

More than six weeks after Mayor Darrell Steinberg asked all council members to find sites for 100 homeless shelter beds in each of their districts, three members are disclosing potential locations. Councilman Jeff Harris is exploring the possibility of a Sprung structure with up to 100 beds on a small portion of the state-owned Cal Expo property near the riverfront. Sprung structures are semi-permanent tent-like facilities that can be erected in a matter of weeks. City officials have been in talks with Cal Expos board of directors for months about the idea, and Harris trying is to win the support of the business community, he said. He would like to devote some city resources toward prohibiting panhandling in the area, and other measures to mitigate the effects of homelessness, before opening the shelter, he said. Digital Access for only $0.99 For the most comprehensive local coverage, subscribe today. If we cant manage these and not harm a community, nobody will let it happen, Harris said. So we have to be realistic and allocate enough resources not only to get the shelter up and running, but to manage it and keep it clean, make sure its not an attractive nuisance, make sure theres no ancillary crime that people can attribute to the shelter. Harris wants to get at least 200 beds in his district, which includes East Sacramento, the riverfront and parts of north Sacramento. Hes looking at several other potential sites. The Cal Expo is a good option because its near the riverfront, where many homeless sleep at night, and not near residential areas, he said. The state fair and all other Cal Expo events would not be affected. Councilman Jay Schenirer is looking at a portion of a parking lot near the Florin light rail station owned by Sacramento Regional Transit District as a potential spot for a 100-bed Sprung tent. Schenirer said he will inform the Sacramento Regional Transit board which he sits on Monday about the potential to lease the site to the city. The lease would require approval from the board as well as the City Council. Schenirer plans to hold a public meeting early next week to gather public input on the idea, he said. Hes also looking at another site, but isnt ready to talk about it yet, he said. Im looking at two sites, each of which can handle 100 individuals, and if I can work out both sites, Im happy to do that, said Schenirer, whose district includes Oak Park and Curtis Park. Schenirers best case scenario is to have 200 beds in the district available by early fall, he said. Councilman Larry Carr said he suggested city staff look at a paved lot near the Meadowview light rail station in his district to see if it could work for a 100-bed Sprung structure. Carr also suggested the site near the Florin light rail station in Schenirers district, but said that a shelter should not go on both sites, which are about a mile and a half apart. I dont want (the shelters) concentrated in the undeserved areas, he said. Councilman Allen Warren agreed. Warren said he has several potential sites that could work for Sprung tents or tiny homes, but he will not announce them until all the other council members announce sites in their districts. While the 100-bed Railroad Drive shelter the city opened in December 2017 is located in Harriss district, the closest residents are in Warrens, including the Woodlake neighborhood, he said. Warren urged his colleagues to announce sites within the next two months. The longer this continues to drag, the less likely it is to happen, he said. Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said she plans to house women who are victims of domestic abuse in single-family homes spread throughout Natomas in undisclosed locations. There is a really big need for women and children in the city, Ashby said. They cant go to the (Railroad Drive) triage shelter. Im seeking to provide an avenue for that population. Unlike Railroad Drive, which is low-barrier shelter, residents of the Natomas shelters would be screened for drugs and alcohol a typical requirement for organizations that serve women and children, Ashby said. Steinberg originally requested all shelters be low-barrier, but said this week he is supportive of Ashbys idea. This is not a cookie cutter operation here, Steinberg said. I want to meld all my colleagues passions, talents and perspectives and we want to get thousands of people off the streets. The homes would offer the triage services the Railroad Drive shelter does, though, such as providing residents with medical and mental health treatment, and help removing the barriers they face in finding permanent housing, such as getting state identification cards, Ashby said. Councilman Steve Hansen is exploring several potential sites, some for a Sprung tent and some for smaller facilities where 10 to 15 people could stay at a time, he said. We are looking at every potential option to meet the mayors goal, Hansen said. Hansen has a goal to announce potential sites in March or April in his district, which includes midtown, downtown and most of Land Park. Councilman Rick Jennings said he has two to three sites in in his district in retail centers and open areas, and will disclose them when it is narrowed down to one or two, he said. Im hopeful what we have will bear fruit, but if it doesnt, well go back out and start looking again, said Jennings, who represents a section of south Sacramento, including Pocket/Greenhaven. Vice Mayor Eric Guerra said its been difficult to find shelter sites in his southeast Sacramento district, where there is no available city-owned property, but hopes to announce one by the summer and open it before winter. It hurts me to see people on a day like this when the wind is so harsh and its been rainy and theyre sleeping in the mud, Guerra said. Whats next Steinberg plans to announce a proposal to fund several new shelters for several years on or before the councils Budget and Audit Committee meeting Jan. 29, he said. The council will likely approve a funding plan Feb. 12 when it adopts the mid-year budget, he said. The mayor does not expect any of the members will have announced finalized locations by then, though, he said. Funding several shelters for several years will take tens of millions of dollars, using a mixture of private and public funds from state, local and other sources, Steinberg said. The city last week received $5.6 million in state funds, mostly to be used for new shelters. The city wont start receiving the additional revenue from the Measure U sales tax increase until June, but currently has roughly $15 million in current Measure U revenue in reserves that could be spent on one-time projects, Assistant City Manager Leyne Milstein told the Bee previously. City officials set that money aside in case Measure U failed at the polls in November. The Railroad Drive shelter was originally supposed to just be open last winter, but city officials extended the lease multiple times, using city money and money donated from Sutter Health, U.C. Davis Medical Center and others. Ive raised money to keep Railroad open several times beyond expected closure date, but its piecemeal, Steinberg said. Its finding the money and saying now we have another three months. I dont wanna do that anymore. Ashby said she hopes the new shelters can be less expensive than Railroad, which costs about $400,000 a month, and that they are not fully funded by the citys general fund. We create a reliance we cant maintain, Ashby said.

https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/homeless/article224642900.html

Should Family Guy 'phase out' gay jokes?

Image copyright FOX Image caption Stewie has often been the butt of gay jokes on Family Guy Family Guy is known for its politically incorrect humour, but now the team behind the show are making some changes. Fans of the animated comedy series are used to its often distasteful humour. One character, Joe, is in a wheelchair, and the subject of many of the show's disabled jokes. Another, Quagmire, is used as a platform for the many references to rape or sexual harassment. And during the show's 17-season run, Stewie, the Griffin family baby, has been hit with quips about being gay. But it appears that the jokes targeted at the LGBT community are on the way out. In Sunday's episode, Peter Griffin, who is voiced by the show's creator Seth MacFarlane, was seen telling a cartoon President Trump that the show was trying to "phase out" gay jokes. "Many children have learned their favourite Jewish, black, and gay jokes by watching your show over the years," the animated president tells Peter. "In fairness, we've been trying to phase out the gay stuff," Peter replies. We're a cartoon. You're the president." The change in direction has been confirmed by the show's executive producers Alec Sulkin and Rich Appel, who told TV Line that they want to better reflect the current climate in the show. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Seth MacFarlane with Rich Appel and Alec Sulkin at a Fox press event in 2018 Sulkin said: "If you look at a show from 2005 or 2006 and put it side by side with a show from 2018 or 2019, they're going to have a few differences. "Some of the things we felt comfortable saying and joking about back then, we now understand is not acceptable." Appel added: "The climate is different, the culture is different and our views are different. They've been shaped by the reality around us, so I think the show has to shift and evolve in a lot of different ways." One of the defences of the show's controversial storylines is that they make fun of all minority groups equally and some have argued that there's no reason one particular minority group should be exempt. "If Family Guy is gonna be mainstream and not edgy, what's the point?" asked one fan of the show on Twitter. "Early 2000s Family Guy was funny because it pushed boundaries." And some in the LGBT community argued the show does not offend them. "I'm gay, my boyfriend and I watch Family Guy, and we laugh at the gay jokes as much as we laugh at any of the jokes," wrote viewer Zell on Twitter. "I never felt like the gay jokes were at Stewie's expense, but rather an evolution of the character," added Rhagana. "It seemed like the more queer he became, the less evil he was." However, some people think Family Guy is in need of change, including Nick Duffy, the current affairs editor of Pink News, who says it is important to reflect a more modern view of homosexuality in the show. "Family Guy has been very much reliant on stereotypes of predatory gay men," he tells BBC News. "And it's not just gay people specifically, but before Caitlyn Jenner came out as transgender, they made heavy quips about her gender identity, which they've been criticised for before. "At the time she was in the closet and since then she's come out. They've not apologised although they do seem to have moved past it." Image copyright FOX Duffy says the reason comedy shows often miss the mark is because they portray "a straight white man's experience of comedy - just look at Saturday Night Live!" But, he adds: "We are seeing more diverse narratives of LGBT experience in comedy and new storylines coming through, like Hannah Gadsby's show Nanette on Netflix. "It says something about the world those shows inhabit and it's now changing, so it looks like shows like Family Guy are becoming more inclusive, but I hope that's also happening behind the scenes too." Daily Mail Australia writer Jacques Peterson, who writes about pop culture and entertainment, says that Family Guy misses the mark when it comes to comedic value altogether. "I'm gay and I don't have any problem with Family Guy or anyone else telling gay jokes as long as they're funny. But Family Guy just isn't funny," he tells BBC News. "It's just a bunch of pop culture references and random 'stuff' thrown together... the show doesn't even push the envelope far enough to warrant a few laughs from shock value." He disagrees with the idea that adding diverse writers to the mix would improve Family Guy's gay jokes and says a good joke is a good joke regardless of who wrote it. "Personally I think it's rubbish to say that gay jokes have to be written by gay people. Does that mean gay people can't write jokes about straight people?" he asks. "If we could only write about people who are exactly like us the world would be a very boring place. I'm a writer and I'm going to write about anything and anybody I want, and I hope other writers do the same." Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46878017

Do young people feel pressured to have sex?

Image copyright Getty Images "We talk about it all the time," says 16-year-old Maja. "Sex has been normalised a lot. People aren't scared of talking about it anymore." We're at Maja's sixth-form talking about sex because it's been suggested that the biggest regret young people have about losing their virginity is having sex "too soon". A National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal) poll, suggests a third of women and a quarter of men between 17 and 24 feel like they lost their virginity at "the wrong time". It also claims many "may not be ready" at 16, the legal age of consent. "I probably wouldn't tell everyone on Snapchat if I was about to have sex - some things you keep to yourself," Maja says. "But I do feel like I'm completely in control of the choice." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Messages and images on social media are said to add to peer pressure around people losing their virginity Sazali, who's also 16, feels "pretty confident" he's in control of when he has sex, but also says there's "a lot of peer pressure" involved. "Sex pops up in group chats day-to-day. "I feel like it's more of a norm for people our age to not be virgins anymore." Sixteen-year-old Beth agrees: "I know a lot of my friends do feel pressured to have sex because they know other people in the year have. "Because they know other people are doing it, they're worried when they get to university they'll be on the outside because they haven't done it and they'll feel uncool." But Nicole, who at 18 is slightly older than the other people in the discussion, suggests her friends are more comfortable to wait until they feel "right with the person that you're doing it with". "I feel like it shouldn't be rushed because you have a lot of time in your life." Image copyright Channel 4/ Skins Image caption Some claim shows like Skins encourage people to have sex at a young age Beth thinks that having more access to TV shows and social media that openly refers to sex is "helping the conversation". "But I think it's also making people think they have to have sex earlier," she says. "In shows like Skins, pretty much all the characters have had sex. "Loads of people watch those shows and it makes them feel like it's a normal thing that they should be doing." Maja adds: "You see 13 or 14-year-olds putting up racy pictures. "It's becoming a bit dangerous because I know a couple of people that age who have had sex and I wonder if they're really ready for that." For Nicole, social media is "making younger generations evolve too quickly". "It shows you what you can have but not necessarily when you should have it, so that encourages a certain type of behaviour. "People are starting to have sex younger and they might go on to regret that." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The group agree with the findings that women are more likely to regret when they have sex than men The Natsal survey claimed nearly 40% of women didn't feel like their first sexual experience happened at a time they were happy with. Only 26% of men said the same thing. Sazali suggests: "Girls seem to think more about how they'll do or feel more conscious about their bodies. "Guys on the other hand are more ready to talk about it and they want to do it." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The group say being taught about STIs and contraception added to their decision around having sex for the first time The rest of the group also think men might regret losing their virginity less than women because it's easier for them to cope socially when they first start having sex. "With girls, if you're having sex and you're not in a relationship especially - it's like 'Oh she's sleeping around'," says Maja. "Yeah you could get called a slut and stuff," adds Beth. Nicole agrees. "If a boy did that his friends might be like 'Go on mate' but girls would go 'Oh my God, I can't believe she did that', and more gossip comes out of it. "It makes you think about it all way more." Follow Newsbeat on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. Listen to Newsbeat live at 12:45 and 17:45 every weekday on BBC Radio 1 and 1Xtra - if you miss us you can listen back here.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-46876617

What is a vote of no confidence? What time is it?

Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn tabled a motion of no confidence after the crushing defeat of Theresa May's Brexit deal by MPs. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn tables no confidence motion A vote of no confidence lets MPs decide on whether they want the government to continue - and has the power to trigger a general election. The motion's wording is: "That this House has no confidence in Her Majesty's Government." Jeremy Corbyn tabled the motion after Theresa May's Brexit deal was rejected by MPs on Tuesday evening. It is backed by MPs from the SNP, Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru and Green Party. Prime Minister's Questions go ahead as usual at 12:00 GMT on Wednesday. Following a brief debate on banning low level letterboxes, MPs should start debating the motion at about 13:00 GMT. The confidence vote is expected at about 19:00 GMT. Image copyright AFP A 14-day countdown is started if a majority of MPs vote for the motion - and a general election will be called if, during that period, the government or any other alternative government cannot win a new vote of confidence. These 14 days are calendar days and not the days in which Parliament is sitting - so the deadline would be Wednesday 30 January. If there is to then be an election, the earliest it could happen would be 25 working days. Under the Fixed Term Parliaments Act 2011, UK general elections are only supposed to happen every five years. At the moment, the next one is due in 2022. Mrs May has already said that she will not be leading the Conservatives into the 2022 general election. This is the outcome that is widely expected. Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell has told the BBC that they are expected to lose the vote and the DUP - the party that props up Mrs May's government - has said it will vote in favour of the government. Following the vote, Mrs May will have to go back to focusing on getting some form of Brexit deal through Parliament. She offered cross-party talks to determine a way forward in the aftermath of her plan's rejection in the Commons. Mrs May is expected to begin a series of meetings with "senior Parliamentarians" on Thursday. She also told MPs she will return to the Commons with an alternative plan next week, provided she survives the confidence vote.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-46890481

Why are the Chinese buying fewer cars?

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The fact that President Trump's limousine is a Cadillac is said to have helped the US carmaker's sales in China If you're selling Cadillacs in China, it helps that the US president is driven around in one. Cao Chenyi, the boss of a Cadillac dealership near Shanghai, told me that customers know that Donald Trump's presidential limousine is made by the US carmaker. He says they like the prestige. But Mr Cao's had a bad year. Demand dropped 30% in 2018. He's had to shut five of the 11 dealerships his family business owned. Almost half, gone. "The sales on every new vehicle is causing us to lose money. Basically the more we sell the more we lose," he says. Loss leaders are painful. Mr Cao has been forced to shift excess stock, and quickly. The red Cadillac he drove me around in is currently on sale at half price. Image caption Cao Chenyi's family have had to close five of their dealerships - these customers did not make a purchase Nationally, 2018 was a very hard year for the car industry in China, the world's biggest car market. Just over 22 million new cars were sold last year. But that's a near 6% drop on 2017. The first fall in two decades. Inside Mr Cao's Cadillac showroom various models are side by side. An SUV at the back has a canoe on its roof rack. I watched a group of three youngish men come in and sit down for the sales treatment. They didn't buy. They didn't even have a good look inside the cars. Mr Cao thinks the main reason is a tax cut that has gone away. "In 2018 the government cancelled the tax subsidy on car purchases, which was a shock to us," he says. This benefit has been gradually wound down. Others think a credit squeeze has caused the demand for cars to drop. Image caption Cao Chenyi thinks that the end of a tax credit is the main reason behind falling car sales After a decade of near doubling its debt - to almost 300% of China's GDP - 2018 was the year that the government tried to deal with the aftermath of a credit crisis. That crisis was centred on peer-to-peer lending, known as P2P. P2P lenders offer loans to individuals from a pool of funds supplied by other individuals and other businesses, thereby cutting out banks. Cars and houses Economist Andy Xie says the previously increasing national debt kept demand high, particularly in the property and car sectors. "Now the property market has tipped over, and it's affecting a lot of things," he says. "Auto sales are highly correlated to property sales," Mr Xie says. "When people buy property it seems they buy a car at the same time. So when the property market is not doing well the auto demand is down." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption The Chinese government is moving to reduce the country's debt level The collapse of many of the P2P lending platforms is thought to have had a significant impact on both house and car sales, because borrowed money was being used as down payments for both. Mr Xie says the credit system "used to be lubricated by these guys" and suddenly that has stopped. "They lent to people who could not pay back. [Borrowers] shifted their debt from one platform to another." He tells me he's heard statistics suggesting one in four such borrowers "have no ability to pay back". Slowing economy China's car industry is also a key driver of industrial output and a barometer of consumer demand. But growth in China's economy is slowing, and the trade war with the US is starting to bite. Retail sales have slowed to a pace not seen for more than a decade. A couple of hours away from the car dealership is a tiny hair salon, in the heart of Shanghai's old west side. Sun Qiang is the owner and haircutter-in-chief. For a few hours I sat and watched him deal with a handful of customers. First up were three women, two of whom had curlers in, and didn't look happy to be there. Image caption Hairdresser Sun Qiang is saving money to pay for education and healthcare He told me he'd cut my hair for 40 yuan ($6; 4.50). His place is at the bottom end of what you might call the barometer of China's consumption. But business isn't dropping off. He is, though, a barber who also cuts women's hair. When it comes to cars he'd like a Chinese brand SUV. But it's not likely any time soon. He doesn't live that far from work and the buses are good. Plus he doesn't want to borrow. "I think some car dealers, they want to boost their sales, so they need such consumers who love to pay by loans," he explains. "But as a traditional Chinese person, I think we should only buy stuff that we can afford." Global Trade More from the BBC's series taking an international perspective on trade: Traditional attitudes People like Mr Sun are the other problem for China as it contemplates a slowing economy. He is in his mid-40s and has what you might call the traditional Chinese attitude towards borrowing. He says he's worried about mounting healthcare costs and other possible "emergencies". "Medical care and education costs us a lot," he says. "That's why we have to save money." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Car sales in China may have fallen, but 22 million new cars were still bought in 2018 Just outside the hair salon is a scene of China's changing economy. Demand may have tanked, but there are still plenty of cars on the streets. Next door is a boutique shop selling high-end women's clothes. There's a pair of Louboutin high heels in the window. Just down the street I watched as two female construction workers, with their yellow hard hats on, took down some bamboo scaffolding. China is trying to move from an economy dependent on public investment and exports to domestic consumption. But that transition has taken a knock. The slowdown is here. China's car dealers and hairdressers know it. So do this country's leaders.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46887984

How Will Legal Providers Be Affected By The Next Recession?

The thought came to mind several times recently as the stock market recorded its worst December since the Great Depression. Stocks have rebounded during the early weeks of 2019, but political turmoil at home; Brexit and its chaotic implications for the UK, Europe, and beyond; the slowing Chinese economy and the threat of a U.S.-China trade-war; and other destabilizing factors remain. So too does the question of what happens to legal providers when the other shoe drops again. The Impact of 2008 One way to predict the future is to examine the past. Ten years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the global financial crisis it precipitated, the contours of todays legal landscape remain superficially similar to the pre- 2008 marketplace. Sure, Cravaths stunning offer in 2009 to pay incoming $80,000 to incoming lawyers to defer their starting dates for a year shook up the industry for a while. But that and other post-crash fallout has been relegated to ancient history in a world fixed on the here-and-now. The Citi Report, an industry bellwether, proclaimed that 2018 was the best year for Big Law in a decade. The traditional law firm partnership model persists, and so too does the billable hour, rising rates, high profit-per-partner (PPP), escalating starting salaries, and hefty associate bonuses. Many in-house legal departments continue to operate as captive law firms, mimicking law firm culture. All legal service providers that are not traditional partnership model law firms are collectively lumped together and called alternative legal service providers (ALSPs). The self-regulated U.S. legal market, the worlds largest, continues to resist re-regulation (adopted in Australia, the UK, and other advanced economies). Non-lawyer investment, ownership, and control of law firms as well as multi-disciplinary practice is prohibited except in the District of Columbia. The access to justice crisis persists as does laws distribution problem--most individuals and U.S. businesses cannot afford legal representation at current rates even as tens of thousands of lawyers are unemployed or underemployed. On the surface, the legal industry has undergone modest change during a decade of unprecedented pan-industry disruption. A closer look reveals a different perspective-- systemic changes are reshaping the legal industry, albeit more gradually than the disruption many pundits had predicted. Some key transformative currents include: (1) a shift in power from providers to consumers; (2) new providers; (3) new skillsetslaw is not solely about legal expertise anymore; (4) technological adoption; (5) the practice of law and the business of delivering legal services; (6) infusion of capital (funding law companies, litigation finance, legal tech investment, etc. ); (7) multi-disciplinary problem solving; (8) law firm hegemony over; (9) ascent of legal professionals/legal operations; (10) the rise of data and digital transformation; and (11) an emerging global legal community. The last ten years have not produced the end of lawyers, but they have witnessed laws transformation from guild to emerging global legal marketplace. Change has been propelled principally by legal consumers-- not law firms-- and by entrepreneurs, business and technology experts focused on improving the delivery of legal services, not legal experts/practitioners. The influx of expertise from other disciplinesas well as institutional capital-- into the lawyer-centric ecosystem has produced new delivery models that are better aligned with consumers and that reward efficiency, predictability, cost-effectiveness, value and results. Law is no longer about scorched-earth labor intensity and lawyers decreeing that's what necessary to produce the best legal product possible. It's about problem solving at the speed of business. New model providers have ignited a cultural transformation that embraces diversity; the potential of technology to help solve laws wicked problems; the importance of collaboration and scale; the upside of automation; the predictive prophylactic, and analytical uses of data to substitute information for hunch; the power of capital; the importance of access; and the need to realign the interests of consumer with provider. Its too speculative to pick individual winners and losers, but industry trends and evolving legal buy/sell dynamics make it easier to predict which categories and characteristics of providers will fare better or worse during the next economic downturn. Spoiler alert: providers that have embraced digital transformation will fare far better than those that have not. Law Firms The next recession will be a reckoning for most large law firms, especially those that have kicked the existential who are we? can down the road. Thats most firms. They continue to pursue a short-term strategy focused on preserving PPP at all costs and have yet to pay the price for it. The next financial downturn will be harsh on those firms that have failed to differentiate and to embrace a client-centric approach predicated on measurable results, efficiency, value, cost-effectiveness, proactivity, collaboration, and transparency. The trend lines are already pointing in this direction. Most firms are experiencing flat or declining demand for their services, stiffer competitionnot only from other firms but also from in-house departments and a growing array of ALSPs including the Big Fourand a talent gap fueled in part by promising young talent opting out of the partnership sweepstakes. Above The Law recently reported the mass stealth layoff by Cahill Gordon of the overwhelming majority of senior litigation associates in a particular class. The associates were told they were not partnership or counsel material, provided six months notice, and given a portion of their bonus. A cadre of elite, brand-differentiated firms have separated themselves financially because of their stranglehold on high-value, price-insensitive work for which they command premium fees. That is unlikely to change in the near-term. So too will firms that have differentiated, digitized, and integrated practice and delivery expertise prosper even during the next downturn. There will also be opportunity for law firms that create new organizational and economic models that are corporate, client-aligned, diverse, agile, collaborative, tech and process-enabled, entrepreneurial, multi-disciplinary, and industry-focused to thrive-- even in a down market. Legal buyers have crossed the Rubicon and have overcome their reticence to engage new-model providers responsive to their needs. Law is a more open marketplace than ever. Corporate Legal Departments In-house departments, like law firms, are by no means monolithic. They vary in size, corporate culture, portfolio, philosophy, performance metrics, and management. The financial crisis resulted in a decade of steady migration of law firm work in-housenot just in volume but also in complexity and significance. In-house departments are already feeling unrelenting pressure from the C-Suite to do more with less. Rather than increase headcount, its more likely that many in-house departments will become more creative in slicing and dicing their portfolios and take an even harder look at who does what? For many, that would likely result in even less fat middle (everything except bet the company and commoditized) work sourced to firms, mandates to cap or reduce existing departmental headcount, and more work sourced to ALSPs. There is already evidence to support this thesis; UnitedLex rebadged several hundred professionals from DXCs legal team and PwC took on approximately 600 of GEs global tax professionals. Other Providers The Big Four have stepped up their presence as major players in the global legal market, and this will no doubt continue in good and bad economic times. They enjoy many competitive advantages over traditional law firms: (1) strong, trusted global brands; (2) deep war chests; (3) digital transformation expertise; (4) strong C-Suite relationships; (5) multi-disciplinary talent; (6) global footprint; (7) strong commitment to ongoing professional training/re-training; and (8) client-centric, long-term approach to professional engagements. They are a safe harbor, especially in turbulent financial times. Elite, law-centric legal providers like UnitedLex, Axiom, and Thomson Reuters are also well-positioned to expand their imprint, even during down markets. Someone must do the work. They have the track record, brand recognition, global footprint, and financial backing to invest in client relationships and the resourceshuman and technologicalrequired to sustain them and to deliver consistent, quantifiable results. These providers, like the Big Four, are anything but alternative and are positioned not only to survive but also to thrive in the next economic downturn and beyond. Conclusion The next major economic downturn is likely to produce the disruption that many in the legal industry have been expecting since 2008. It has taken nearly a decade for legal consumers to wrest control of the industry from lawyers and to open up the long closed legal guild to other professionals, paraprofessionals, technology, and capital. Corporate consumers call the shots now. They have effectively marginalized archaic, self-serving, and protectionist lawyer self-regulation. More importantly, theynot law firmsnow determine value, what is and is not a legal matter, when lawyers are required, from what delivery model they are optimally deployed, and at what price. This has accelerated disaggregation and paved the way for providers with tech and process-enabled delivery models offering the expertise, resources, capital, diversity, customer-centricity, and competition to incumbent providers to compete favorably for market share in good times and especially in bad ones.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/markcohen1/2019/01/23/how-will-legal-providers-be-affected-by-the-next-recession/

Is Influencer-Generated Content The New User-Generated Content?

Today, influencer marketing and content marketing are in the middle of a massive transformation. There are teams around the world trying to figure out the best uses of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to uncover insights across their marketing stacks, there are companies creating new definitions for influencer marketing and there is still a lot of brand dollars pouring into the space. Were all pretty familiar with user-generated content, where users post about a brand on social media, but marketing teams that I have been chatting with are often talking about influencer-generated content now. Its a big shift because were moving into a new evolution of influencer marketing, one in which doesnt necessarily mean people have been paid for promotions. Arguably, direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies are at the forefront of this because they want to capitalize on the earned media and minimize their acquisition budgets. Between 2012 and 2015, there was a surge of companies that began to measure user-generated content like Curalate and Pixlee. However, this new subset of UGC is much harder to identify. You could argue that you can build a simple algorithm to pull out the people who posted with the most followers; however, as we know, there are a lot of con artists with fake followers or those who post with ingenuine intent. So, IGC instantly becomes a lot more complicated, not to mention there wont be that much activity on social media for new brands. With that in mind, a lot of brands are trying to kickstart their IGC communities by systematically targeting micro-influencers so their message can bubble to the top. If you look at the social media accounts of brands like Dollar Shave Club, Harry's and Warby Parker, you can see how they have set the bar. Its an interesting strategy that seems to be working and leading to more community-driven sales. One of the first articles I wrote for Forbes highlighted that the more influencers who mention you, the more likely your organic growth will increase due to the natural mechanics of the Instagram algorithm. Were starting to see this strategy across many brands. They are monitoring their brand health by simply tracking the number of notable mentions because, more often than not, it leads to sales and an increase in community engagement. IGC extends past just social media as well -- we see it in Amazon reviews, Kickstarter and even on retailer websites. Were seeing marketing, PR and data teams collaborating on activities like this, and its one of the main reasons growth in influencer marketing is happening internally vs. externally with agencies. Many teams have 2019 plans of bringing influencer marketing in-house due to its complexity and non-rigidity. If youre thinking about planning more methodical influencer marketing, here are some tips and certain technologies you should consider: Find a great CRM like Hubspot or Salesforce. Rigid CRMs that only solve for a couple use cases wont scale and will be a bigger problem in the future. Find a measurement tool to analyze your IGC across multiple channels (Amazon reviews, social media, etc.). Create a simple dashboard using Google Data Studio or, if your team has a budget, Tableau/Domo are also incredible. Restructure your team to focus on influencer marketing and have data, PR and marketing teams meet once per week to discuss ongoing strategies. Dont be afraid to change your strategies and plans if they arent working out. If you're excited about focusing on IGC or even evolving your mixed media model, the key to success here is to use data to drive decisions.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbestechcouncil/2019/01/23/is-influencer-generated-content-the-new-user-generated-content/

Could Mexico Again Be An Oil Superpower?

The supply of oil and gas from Mexico over the next decade will depend very much on political decisions made in the next few years, but it is important to realize that the geological potential is very great and the economics are very favorable. The history of relying on a xenophobic ideology which until recently restricted resource development to the national oil company, Pemex. The company suffered from the usual challenges faced by state mineral enterprises, including political interference in decision-making and hiring, as well as a volatile and unpredictable budgetary process. The result is that Mexicos resource base has been underexploited compared to what would occur in a country operating to maximize revenue. The table below shows both proved reserves and estimates of recoverable resources for oil and gas, and it is clear that the country has significant potential, especially when realizing that these estimates tend to be conservative. (Data is from the IEAs 2016 World Energy Outlook.) Given the estimate of 70% of recoverable resources remaining, after a century of exploitation (mostly in the past four decades), the countrys petroleum resource base can be said to be relatively immature. This is reinforced by recent discoveries, such as the AMT fields found by ENI in 100 feet of water, with about 1 billion barrels of oil-in-place, and the Zama field, in approximately 500 feet of water and containing nearly one billion barrels of oil. (Again, these estimates are likely to increase over time.) This is approximately 40 times the size of fields found in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico at similar depths in recent years (the average reserves in water depths of 500-1000 feet is 24 million barrels). And it is a truism that the size of a large discovery is indicative of the resources in an area, as some put it, there is a king field, several queens and many jacks. In Mexico, the Canterall field, one of the worlds largest, is clearly the king (at least in the Campeche Basin), but the recent new discoveries by private companies, AMT, Zama and Hokchi, are all world class and demonstrate that the Mexican Gulf of Mexican is more prolific than the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, as the table below shows. While Pemex and private companies focus on finding elephants, as giant fields are called, the possibility that smaller companies could undertake rehabilitation of marginal fields, as happened twenty years ago in Venezuela, where about 500 tb/d of production was added. This is an endeavor that would benefit from the attention of small companies, who find the scale of investment suits them and the profits acceptable, whereas Pemex prefers to operate on larger projects. At present, Pemex is seeking to develop farmouts with private companies, most probably Mexican. For those with long memories, in the early 1980s at the height of the oil scare, many thought that Mexico would be an oil superpower based on reports that the Chicontepec deposit might contain as much as 100 billion barrels of oil, making it one of the worlds largest oil fields. World Oil editor Thomas Stewart-Gordon was an early skeptic, noting that Pemex budgets seemed to be ignoring the field, and that proved prescient, as the difficult geology could not be overcome at the time. Since then, research has been undertaken in improving well productivity, but to date production remains relatively minor. Farmouts might allow companies with experience in more varied geology to improve production methods, and ongoing research could also allow advances that will make production profitable. Finally, Mexico has unexploited shale resources, as the first table showed. The Eagle Ford shale, which produces 1.5 mb/d of oil and 7 bcf/d of gas in the U.S. extends into Mexico, and could make a contribution to Mexican production, although not necessarily as great as in the U.S. Small companies were the pioneers in U.S. shale production, and could do so in Mexico as well. Ultimately, while Mexico might achieve the production growth of 250 tb/d/yr that Venezuela did after reform in the 1990s, but this will require a continuation of the New Energy Model that the previous administration enacted. If so, Mexico could be a much bigger player on the world oil market, as well as seeing a welcome boost to government revenues and economic growth. [This post is derived from my report on Mexico's energy future, found here.}

https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaellynch/2019/01/23/could-mexico-again-be-an-oil-superpower/

Why are so many kids being hit by cars on the West Side?

CLOSE Shawna Rodriguez is still looking for answers in the hit and run death of her daughter, Gabby, as more pedestrians continue to be hit be vehicles. Sam Greene, sgreene@enquirer.com She was running a little late. Gabriella Christine Rodriguez usually left for school around 6:30 a.m., said her mom, Shawna Rodriguez. But that Monday in September, it might have been closer to 6:40. She was with her older brother and a friend. They walked down Hansford Place to Harrison Avenue, where their bus stop was on the other side of the four-lane street. Usually, the trio would walk a little farther up Harrison, use a crosswalk, then double back to their bus. That morning so they wouldnt miss their ride they decided to cross where they were. The streetlight was out, Shawna said. It was dark, and Gabby was wearing black pants and a black shirt, her required school uniform. CLOSE 13 Cincinnati Public Schools students were hit by vehicles in 2018. Michael Nyerges, Cincinnati Enquirer Her brother and friend made it safely across the street, but Gabby must have been a beat behind. They think she hesitated to pull up her pants or fix her shoe or something, Shawna said. It was 6:42 a.m. when the first vehicle, a silver SUV going west on Harrison, knocked Gabby out of her white Nike shoes. She was always particular about her shoes, Shawna said, so her sneakers were pristine. Shoeless, the 15-year-old was lying on her stomach in middle of the road. Her friend reached her first, and Gabby said three words: Call my mom. Thats when the other car came, the other direction, Shawna said. Never slowed down. Never braked. They say they hit her so hard, and you can actually see it in the road, theres an indent that is forever in the road. Buy Photo Shawna Rodriguez recalls the death of her daughter Gabby Rodriguez at her home in the South Fairmount neighborhood of Cincinnati on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. Gabby Rodriguez was killed in September after she was hit by a car on her way to school. (Photo: Sam Greene, The Enquirer) Gabby was one of 13 Cincinnati Public Schools students hit by a vehicle in 2018, according to police reports and a tally from the school district. Gabby, a sophomore at Western Hills University High School, was the only one killed. The students range in age from 6 to 18. At least nine were in crosswalks when they were hit. And 11, including Gabby, were on Cincinnatis West Side, within a roughly 1.25-square-mile zone. Pedestrian deaths are skyrocketing nationwide, going from 4,302 in 2010 to 5,987 in 2016. In Ohio in 2017, there were 144 pedestrian fatalities, the highest death toll in a decade. This is clearly not a problem isolated to Cincinnati or its schools. Cars keep hitting people: And it's only getting worse. Neil Kelly: This man would like you to stop hitting him with cars. Buy Photo A family photo of Gabby Rodriguez after hitting her first home run at her home in the South Fairmount neighborhood of Cincinnati on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. Gabby Rodriguez was killed in September after she was hit by a car on her way to school. (Photo: Sam Greene, The Enquirer) Again and again and again This is a far-reaching problem touching every area of Cincinnati: students, the school board, city hall, teachers, parents every single person who drives or walks or takes the bus. But it's complicated, practically and politically. There is bickering over who's at fault, what should be done and who should pay for it. There are ideas but no single, affordable fix. Prior to 2018, CPS did not track how often students were hit by cars, so we dont know if this is happening more or less than before. But we do know that pedestrian crashes overall in the city have risen sharply, jumping 46 percent from 2013 to 2018. Of the 13 CPS students hit by cars in 2018, at least three of the crashes involved hit-and-run drivers, leading to calls for heavier police enforcement and more in-depth investigations. And eight of the students were hit before sunrise leading some to question whether CPS needs to push back its start times. Buy Photo A family photo of Gabby Rodriguez at her home in the South Fairmount neighborhood of Cincinnati on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. Gabby Rodriguez was killed in September after she was hit by a car on her way to school. (Photo: Sam Greene, The Enquirer) In May, then- 14-year-old Lauren Wainscott was in a crosswalk outside Western Hills. She was headed to her bus after school when a driver ran into her, launching her into the air. Lauren was scraped up but not seriously physically injured, said her mom, Jenny Mider, but she now has anxiety about being on sidewalks. On Dec. 14, in a crosswalk just up the street from Laurens crash,12-year-old Kenya Joy Austin was hit shortly before 7:30 a.m. Kenya spent several days in the hospital with a fractured femur and a cracked growth plate. She doesnt remember most of what happened, said her mom, Asia Allen, but now Kenya has nightmares and shes afraid to walk outside alone. Two years ago, Kenyas older brother was hit by a car in the same area, Allen said. He had a foot fracture and a concussion, and he still gets migraines. The driver who hit Kenya took off. Theres no information in the police report about the car, but Allen says it was a red Pontiac Grand Prix. Kenya remembers the windows being tinted. The fact that they drove off, thats what bothers her the most, Allen said. On Dec. 3, a group of four siblings was walking toward Covedale School. They came to the intersection of Cleves Warsaw Pike and Covedale Avenue and in the crosswalk, with the walk signal started to cross. A woman was making a left turn onto Cleves Warsaw. She didnt yield and ran into three of the kids, ages 10, 9 and 6. The students escaped with bruises and scrapes, despite all three requiring a trip to the hospital, said their mom, Lamika Mitchell. But, there have been chiropractor appointments and legal paperwork. Mitchell has had to miss work. And now, every weekday, theres the question of how the kids will get to class. Im just not comfortable with them walking to school anymore, Mitchell said. (Drivers) need to start looking out for these children. My kids lives could have been taken before my eyes just because they were walking to school. Two weeks after that crash, an 11-year-old girl was hit in the same crosswalk, in the same manner, by a driver turning left. An hour. It could save a life. The speed limit on Harrison Avenue is 35 miles per hour, but drivers regularly go 50 or faster, said Shawna, Gabby's mom. The family home is on Hansford Place, a dead-end off of Harrison. The never-ending construction on Queen City Avenue is pushing more traffic to Harrison, Shawna said, so its literally a racetrack out there. There are crosswalks, but drivers dont always stop. Plus, she said, everyone knows there are no cops and no cameras. The night after Gabby died, Shawna and her husband went walking around, looking for any cameras that might have captured the driver who fled the scene. At one crosswalk, it took them more than 20 minutes to get across the street, Shawna said, because drivers were just ignoring them. Around here, people dont care, because they know we dont have street cameras. You see, Downtown, a cop almost every block. Somehow, weve got to stay consistent in patrolling. Shawna Rodriguez, mom of 15-year-old Gabby Around here, people dont care, because they know we dont have street cameras, she said. You see, Downtown, a cop almost every block. Somehow, weve got to stay consistent in patrolling. Shawna has a list of what she wants, improvements that might mean her daughter didnt die in vain. She wants more and better crosswalks, the kind with bright, flashing lights that highlight pedestrians. More and better street lights. More cameras. More traffic enforcement from police. And 24-hour parking on Harrison Avenue, which would slow traffic and essentially trim the street from four lanes to two. Mayor John Cranley recently announced 24-hour parking on a stretch of Harrison, but its in Westwood, about 2 miles northwest of where Gabby was hit. The mayor said he would be open to extending that zone, though, if it is what the community wants. Shawna also has a wish list for CPS. She wants different bus routes so students dont have to cross four-lane streets twice a day. She wants lighter uniforms, so they dont have to wear all black. And, she wants later start times. The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends middle- and high schools start at 8:30 a.m. or later, and theres plenty of scientific research that shows teenagers need more sleep than they can get with schools that start earlier. Still, seven CPS high schools, including Gabbys, start between 7:30 and 8 a.m. CPS has been considering later start times for years but so far hasnt made the jump. The district is expected to make a recommendation to the board later this spring about moving start times back. An hour, Shawna said. This is, in some ways, a political battle. CPS spends about $750,000 a year on crossing guards, primarily stationed near elementary schools, but it wants the city to foot that bill. Mayor Cranley has pointed the finger at the school district, saying it needs to either hire more crossing guards or expand its busing program. Currently, high school students who live 1.25 miles or more from their school get a Cincinnati Metro pass. Kindergarten- through eighth-grade students who live a mile or more from their school can ride a traditional yellow school bus. A first grader shouldnt have to walk a mile to school, Cranley said. They had a big school levy pass, so they have to decide what theyre going to fund. They have to do one or the other. Either way, its their job to get kids to and from school. But CPS points right back at City Hall. The districts busing policy, while it does not cover every student, far exceeds the state standards, said CPS spokeswoman Frances Russ, in a written response to questions from The Enquirer. CPS will spend more than $43 million on transportation this year , a cost that has only gone up in recent years. And, it would be one thing if kids were getting hit on school property. But, theyre not. The public school systems job is to keep our students safe on school grounds as we prepare them for a life beyond school, Russ said. The safety and security of our streets and neighborhoods is the responsibility of the city. Despite those differences, CPS and the city have taken steps lately to increase student safety. CPS added crossing guards near the shared Dater/Western Hills campus after it was revealed several students were hit there, and on Friday, Cranley announced nearly $1 million in pedestrian safety improvements, much of it centered around Western Hills school and Westwood. Plus, there is a new joint task force aimed at addressing pedestrian safety in the area. Since 2013, according to an Enquirer analysis, 123 pedestrians have been hit by vehicles within a mile of the Dater/West campus. Within one mile of Dater and Western Hills University high schools, 123 pedestrians have been struck by vehicles since 2013. (Photo: Google) Despite those efforts, though, this is more complicated than it might seem. Changing bus routes or start times would be expensive for CPS. The logistics are daunting, and it could end up solving old problems but creating new ones. And sure, police could spend more time on traffic enforcement, and perhaps pedestrian crashes would decrease as a result. But that means police would have to spend less time on something else. And maybe shootings which have trended down in recent years would tick back up. Heres what it comes down to for Shawna: The attention and care of drivers. Its heroin, speeding and cellphones, she said. In 2016, 3,450 people in the U.S. died as a result of distracted driving, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Some people want to say, Well, we need to teach our kids, Shawna said. Yeah, we do need to teach our kids. But we can teach our kids a million things if the drivers arent driving safe, if theyre not focusing, if theyre not doing whats right on the street, our kids have no chance. I just dont want people to forget... Gabby is buried in Spring Grove Cemetery. Her parents chose a plot underneath a big tree, because they know she would have liked that. Theres no stone yet, but the grave is blanketed by flowers, balloons and photos. Shawna visits nearly every day. Sometimes, she yells at Gabby for not going to a crosswalk that morning, for not triple checking for cars before she stepped into the street. But most days, she just sits and talks. She tells Gabby how much she loves and misses her. She talks about what Gabbys friends and classmates are doing in her memory. And she asks for help. Doctors have told Shawna and her husband that Gabby didnt suffer, but Shawna is haunted by Gabbys last few moments on Earth. Those last three words, she said. Call my mom. I wasnt there to protect her. Buy Photo A painting of Gabby Rodriguez by her former coach at her home in the South Fairmount neighborhood of Cincinnati on Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019. Gabby Rodriguez was killed in September after she was hit by a car on her way to school. (Photo: Sam Greene, The Enquirer) The Rodriguezes have three older boys, but Gabby was their baby and their only girl. She was strong-willed, hard-headed, kind, confident and loud. She taught herself to play guitar. Softball was her passion. Shawna treasures everything her daughter was, but she mourns the woman Gabby will never get the chance to become. She wont graduate from high school, she wont get married, shell never have children of her own. Its a never-ending cycle of pain, Shawna said. You cry on your way to work, and you cry on your way home. The Rodriguez living room has turned into a shrine for Gabby, with photos and softball trophies lining the walls and shelves. Shawna wears a sweatshirt with her daughters face on it. The familys truck has a new license plate: GABBY13. This is life now, Shawna said. Every day at the cemetery, she repeats the same plea: Show me youre OK. Then, she pulls herself up and drives home. She goes to City Hall and begs for answers and action. She sits down with reporters and, over and over, tells the story of how her daughter died. She would rather just lie in bed and cry, she said. If she had her way, she might never get out of bed again. But Gabby wont let her give up. Weve got to make changes, Shawna said. We cant just try to put a Band-Aid on it. I just dont want people to forget: A 15-year-old died. CLOSE When she was 10 years old, Gabby Rodriguez wrote a song for her grandpa that she sang and played at his funeral. It was called, "Don't Be Afraid." Hannah Sparling/The Enquirer Read or Share this story: https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/23/why-so-many-kids-being-hit-cars-west-side/2536947002/

https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/2019/01/23/why-so-many-kids-being-hit-cars-west-side/2536947002/

How will history judge President Trump?

Hostile historians may come to regard Donald Trump's presidency as an aggregation of the lesser traits of his predecessors. The bullying of Lyndon Baines Johnson, who demeaned White House aides and even humiliated his Vice-President Hubert Humphrey - forcing his deputy once to recite a speech on Vietnam while he listened, legs akimbo, trousers round his ankles, on the toilet. The intellectual incuriosity of Ronald Reagan, who once apologised to his then White House Chief of Staff James Baker for not reading his briefing books with the immortal excuse: "Well, Jim, The Sound of Music was on last night." The shameless lies of Bill Clinton about his affair with Monica Lewinsky. The paranoia of Richard Nixon, who in his final days railed, King Lear-like, at portraits hanging on the White House walls. The incompetence of George W Bush, whose failure to master basic governance partly explained his administration's botched response to the aftermath of the war in Iraq and also to Hurricane Katrina. The historical amnesia of Gerald Ford, whose assertion during a 1976 presidential debate that Eastern Europe was not dominated by Moscow was a forerunner of Trump's recent endorsement of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The strategic impatience of Barack Obama, whose instinct always was to withdraw US forces from troublesome battlefields, such as Iraq, even if the mission had not yet been completed. Even the distractedness of John F Kennedy, who whiled away afternoons in the White House swimming pool with a bevy of young women to sate his libido, a sexualised version, perhaps, of Donald Trump sitting for his hours in front of his flat-screen TV watching friendly right-wing anchors massage his ego. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford at a 1976 debate At the midpoint of Donald Trump's first term, historians have struggled to detect the kind of virtues that offset his predecessors' vices: the infectious optimism of Reagan; the inspirational rhetoric of JFK; the legislative smarts of LBJ; or the governing pragmatism of Nixon. So rather than being viewed as the reincarnation of Ronald Reagan or Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Trump gets cast as a modern-day James Buchanan, Franklin Pierce or William Harrison. Last year, a poll of nearly 200 political science scholars, which has routinely placed Republicans higher than Democrats, ranked him 44th out of the 44 men who have occupied the post (for those wondering why Trump is the 45th president, Grover Cleveland served twice). Though the president has likened himself to Abraham Lincoln, who posterity has deemed to be greatest of all presidents, this survey judged him to be the worst of the worst. Even the conservative scholars, who identified themselves as Republicans, placed him 40th. Were it not for his braggadocio, Donald Trump might receive a more positive historical press. A recurring problem, after all, is that he gets judged against his boasts. He can point to a significant record of right-wing accomplishment. Tax reform. Two Supreme Court nominees safely installed on the bench. The travel ban. The bonfire of federal regulations. Criminal justice reform. Legislative action aimed at ameliorating the opioid crisis. Nato members ponying up more cash. Annual wage growth is at a nine-year high. 2018 was the best year for job creation since 2015. Many of his campaign pledges, such as the renegotiation of the Nafta free-trade agreement and the relocation of the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, have been kept. Promise made, promise kept is one of his boasts that regularly rings true. Image copyright Alamy Image caption The bruising but successful addition of Brett Kavanaugh (left) to the bench was a huge Trump victory Often, though, he blunts the impact of authentic good news with inflated claims. US Steel is not opening up six new plants. He is not the author of the biggest tax cut in American history. Besides, the trade war has penalised US manufacturers and farmers, and in 2018 the stock market suffered its worst year since the 2008 financial meltdown. This market volatility highlights other Trump tendencies contributing to his poor reviews: pointing to a buoyant stock market as a metric of personal success, the downside of which is the downswing; and blaming others when things go south, in this case the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell. Trump sits in the Oval Office behind what's called the Resolute desk, hewn from the timber of an abandoned British warship and first used by John F Kennedy, a former navy man himself. But on it you will not find the desk sign favoured by Harry S Truman: "The Buck Stops Here." This America First president is himself an American first. Indeed, a further reason for the disdain of historians is because, historically speaking, his administration has been like no other. The chaos of staff turnover - two secretaries of state, two secretaries of defence, two attorneys general, three White House chiefs of staff, and a revolving door of senior West Wing aides. The foreign policy by tweet. The chumminess with adversarial authoritarian leaders, such as Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin. The blurring of ethical lines supposedly separating the Trump White House from the Trump business empire. The Russia collusion investigation, which has raised questions, so far unsettled, about his true allegiance. Read more from Nick Nor have we ever witnessed a US leader who has so flagrantly flouted the normal rules of presidential behaviour. The playground nicknames. The Twitter tirades. The ugly slurs - "horseface" for Stormy Daniels, a former porn star with whom he was once apparently intimate. In response to indictments in the Mueller probe, he has sometimes sounded more like the boss of a crime family. "A rat" is how he described his former lawyer and fixer Michael Cohen, deploying the lingua franca of the Mafioso. Though he claims to offer exemplary moral leadership, even conservatives have criticised his presidency for being a profile of amorality, whether in response to the murder of the Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi or the neo-Nazi torchlight protest in Charlottesville. One of my abiding memories from the past two years came in the lobby of Trump Tower during that extraordinary press availability held a few days afterwards, when he suggested a "very fine people" equivalence between far-right protesters and their opponents. Standing next to me was an African-American cameraman, who abandoned his tripod so that he could join reporters in hurling questions, something that rarely, if ever, happens at press conferences. "What should I tell my children?" he shouted. "What should I tell my children?" Image copyright Alamy Image caption A memorial to Heather Heyer, killed while protesting against white supremacists in Charlottesville With each bizarre press encounter and each ALL CAPS tweet, it can sometimes feel as if America is living through some historical counterfactual. It is as if the right-wing populist Pat Buchanan managed to beat George Herbert Walker Bush to the Republican presidential nomination in 1992 and, on the strength of his fiery culture war speech to the GOP convention, went on to beat Bill Clinton. Buchanan launched his insurgent campaign with a plea to put "America First" and used the mantra "Make America Great Again." Or maybe the Trump presidency is what a Perot administration might have looked like. Ross Perot, who also sought the presidency in 1992, was another populist billionaire and deep state conspiracy theorist. Yet even Buchanan and Perot, one suspects, would have been more orthodox. This alternative history feel to the Trump presidency partly explains why some of the dystopian "Could it happen here?" novels, such as Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and George Orwell's 1984 have received a "Trump bump" in sales. Phillip Roth's The Plot Against America has also become a touchstone work. It imagines as president the aviator Charles Lindbergh, the telegenic spokesman for the isolationist "America First Committee," who turns the USA into a more authoritarian state. These dystopian analogies, however, are often not analogous. Donald Trump's America is not Margaret Atwood's Gilead, or George Orwell's Oceania. And just as the billionaire unwisely compares himself to the heroes of history, a trait which inevitably invites ridicule, his more strident critics over-reach when they liken him to history's worst villains. He is not a modern-day Adolf Hitler, nor an American Mussolini. When Donald Trump took the oath of office, nobody should have been surprised that an anti-politician would morph into an anti-president. In 2016 Americans rejected politics as usual. And diehard supporters still throng his rallies, wearing Make America Great Again caps and chanting for him to build the wall and lock up Hillary Clinton. His approval ratings among Republicans remain strong - 88% according to Gallup. His overall approval rating - 37% according to Gallup - is on a par with Ronald Reagan's at the two-year mark. Yet the rally chants of "four more years" remain a wish rather than a prophecy, and the setbacks suffered by the Republicans in November's congressional elections point to an underlying weakness: the disaffection of moderate Republicans, who were never enthusiastic about Donald Trump but who refused to countenance Hillary Clinton as president. Trump remains the only president in the history of the Gallup poll not to crack the 50% threshold. Because Donald Trump is unwilling to accept he is anything other than an A+ president, the grade he has bestowed upon himself, he is not prepared to adopt the kind of correctives that have saved troubled presidencies. JFK learnt from the disaster of the Bay of Pigs and the bullying he received from Nikita Khrushchev at the Vienna summit in 1961, which was followed in short order by the Soviet construction of the Berlin Wall. Confronted a year later with the Cuban Missile Crisis, he was less trusting of his generals, who urged airstrikes, and less willing to be pushed around by Khrushchev. More on the Trump presidency Bill Clinton, who was accused of liberal over-reach during his first months in office and was punished as a result in the 1994 mid-term elections, tacked back to the political centre in time to win re-election in 1996. This is not a learning presidency. Incumbents can also benefit from self-doubt, a trait Donald Trump seems to regard as a character flaw. Presidents also usually grow in office. But while there are physical signs the 72-year-old is ageing - unable to holiday in Florida over Christmas, he has looked especially tired these past few days - there is little sign he is maturing. It does not help that so many senior figures within his administration and his party treat him like a child monarch. The cabinet meeting where holders of the highest offices of state went around the table lavishing praise upon the president felt like Pyongyang on the Potomac. Vice-President Mike Pence has perfected the devoted gaze of the prototypical political wife. Senior Republicans, who privately roll their eyes, have been admiring, even sycophantic, in his presence. Image copyright Getty Images For the most part, international leaders have also opted for obsequiousness. Not only did Theresa May rush to Washington to invite Trump for a state visit - a state visit that has still not been diarised - she telephoned him on Air Force One to congratulate him after the mid-term election, even though the Democrats regained the House of Representatives. All this after Trump has frequently undermined her leadership over Brexit and trampled over the special relationship. One of the reasons Mr Trump is said to look so contemptuously upon Angela Merkel is because she makes so little effort to conceal her contempt for him. At the two-year mark, it is usually clear how incumbents will leave their mark on the presidency. After the torpidity of the Eisenhower years, Kennedy made the office more youthful and glamorous. Johnson, that shrewd "Master of the Senate", brought the executive and legislative branches into closer alignment. Nixon consolidated more power in the White House, accelerating the trend the liberal historian Arthur M Schlesinger Jr dubbed "the imperial presidency." Ford reversed much of that process, even going as far to drop the playing of "Hail to the Chief" when he made an entrance. The cardigan-wearing Jimmy Carter, who used to go from room to room turning off lights to save energy, suburbanised the White House. Reagan, who restored many of the ceremonial trappings, erased the lines between politics and entertainment. Clinton, in the age of Oprah, made the office more empathetic, narrowing the emotional distance between the presidency and the people. Obama set a new standard for ethical behaviour - motivated in part by the African-American mantra of working twice as hard to get half as far - and also made the presidency more hip. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jimmy Carter in the Oval Office By abrogating behavioural customs, Donald Trump has made the presidency more uncouth and less trustworthy. By departing from executive and managerial norms, he has made domestic and foreign policy-making more impulsive and disorderly. By fraying traditional alliances, he has made the US presidency more isolated. By threatening to declare a national emergency in the funding row over his wall along the Mexican border, he has also indicated a willingness to discard constitutional norms that could mean exceeding constitutional limits. The cumulative effect of this has been to make the Oval Office a focal point of perpetual turmoil and uncertainty, with the White House hostage to the changing whims and temper of its occupant. Governing sometimes feels secondary to winning political and cultural battles, and slaying opponents. His presidency has become a roiling permanent campaign. That will depend, to a large extent, on whether or not he wins a second term. Defeat in 2020 would represent a repudiation of his leadership style. Victory would be validating. Yet even as a one-term president, Trump would have changed the character of the presidency and US politics more broadly. While it is hard to imagine America's 46th or 47th presidents unleashing the same barrage of insults, there are already signs of a "Trump effect" on political discourse. Many mid-term races featured unusually ugly rhetoric. Hours after being sworn in as a new Democratic congresswoman, Rashida Tlaib used a profane epithet as she called for the president's impeachment. What is known as the Overton window, the broadly agreed parameters of acceptable public discourse, has shifted to the right. I well remember the moment during the 2016 campaign when an email from the Trump campaign dropped into our inboxes announcing he would ban all Muslims from entering the United States. Initially we thought it might have been a hoax, for it seemed so far outside the mainstream of American political thought. Now, though, calls for a Muslim ban would raise eyebrows and provoke protests but hardly drop jaws. The phrase "Trump has normalised the abnormal" has itself become a clich. Still, though, I am constantly struck by how many Trump stories and scandals that ordinarily would have launched months, even years, of critical coverage for previous presidents sometimes barely last a single news cycle. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Mattis or Tillerson may have more to say about their time in government More long-lasting could be the debasement of facts as the basis for debate and policy formulation. By its own admission, this administration has sometimes deployed what the White House aide Kellyanne Conway memorably labelled "alternative facts", starting on day one with false claims about the size of the inauguration crowd. Since then, the Washington Post has listed more than 7,000 presidential falsehoods. But an unsettling lesson of the Trump presidency is that post-truth politics can be highly effective, especially when it comes to shoring up a political base. As for chaotic governance, future administrations will surely be more stable in terms of staff turnover, and more orderly when it comes to forming and executing policy. But it is easy to imagine Trump's successors pushing the bounds of executive authority in ways that breach constitutional norms, especially now that gridlock on Capitol Hill has become such a permanent feature of Washington politics. Obama, to a howl of protests from congressional Republicans, relied heavily on executive orders, the flourish of his presidential pen. Trump has gone a big step further by threatening to invoke emergency powers to bypass a hostile Congress. Stress tests for the US constitution, even full-blown constitutional crises, could easily become more commonplace. The Trump presidency's first drafts of history - most notably Bob Woodward's bestseller Fear - have painted a portrait of unprecedented dysfunction. If former senior administration officials pen honest participant histories - say former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, ex-Secretary of Defence James Mattis or former chief of staff John Kelly - they are likely, if their parting comments offer any guide, to add more detail and texture to that same picture. If some of the renowned presidential biographers turn their attention to Trump - maybe Jon Meacham, David McCullough or Michael Beschloss, who in the past have rescued the reputations of under-rated presidents such as George Herbert Walker Bush and Harry S Truman - they are unlikely to deliver laudatory manuscripts. The histories already written, along with those taking shape, will someday be housed in the Donald J Trump Presidential Library, an addition to the 13 existing presidential libraries that form part of the National Archive. Even with two years left to run of this history-defying presidency, most Americans, one suspects, have already made up their minds. Follow Nick Bryant on Twitter .

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-46895634

Why is Chinese media blurring these actors' ears?

Image copyright iQiyi Image caption Actor Wang Linkai's ears are blurred in an episode of the TV show Sister's Flower Shop The decision by a popular Chinese video streaming platform to censor the ears of actors wearing earrings has sparked a heated debate online. Images taken from programmes produced by the Netflix-like streaming service iQiyi, show actors with large blobs covering their earlobes and have been widely shared online. The hashtag #MaleTVStarsCantWearEarrings has been used more than 88,000 times on Weibo where many users are expressing their outrage at the censorship. The controversy is the latest example of the heavy-handed blurring of TV programmes in China. Hip-hop culture, tattoos and LGBT symbols have all been censored. Image copyright iQiyi Image caption Some on Weibo pointed out the difference between actor Jing Boran's ears in episode one (L) and episode three (R) of the TV show 'I Actor' Many took to social media to argue that the censorship was driven by a desire to protect "traditional" gender roles. The effect of male celebrities displaying more "effeminate" characteristics has become a controversial issue in China in recent years. One Weibo user jokingly wrote: "Men who wear earrings are sissies, Genghis Khan's a sissy, we should block him, and kick him out of our history books." Others were quick to suggest a double standard, given that actresses did not have their earrings hidden. We've simply gone back 100 years," one user wrote. While another called the move "unspoken sexual discrimination". Image copyright iQiyi Image caption Weibo users commented on the difference between Lin Yanjun's ears and those of his female co-star Dee Hsu While the majority of comments were critical of the blurring, some wrote that they agreed with the decision. "I support the government moving to rule on this," one user wrote, "men should look like men." Some others commented to say they thought men wearing earrings was "strange" and "effeminate". Analysis: Kerry Allen, BBC Monitoring All TV broadcasters in China are state-owned, heavily regulated and subject to censorship. Domestic programmes must often submit papers to their local Communist party bureau at least two months in advance for official approval. For foreign TV broadcasts, this process can take even longer. Regulation has also extended beyond television to digital platforms, owing to people increasingly watching TV over the internet, and even broadcasting their own content. The popularity of live streaming apps unsettles the Chinese government, who want absolute control over anything that is broadcast. However, social media users have noted their dissatisfaction over a growing list of what they can and cannot watch. One Weibo user commented to question why actors wearing earrings was such a big issue. "Some people actually say this would negatively influence children. If wearing a stud is to blame for negatively influencing a child, how vulnerable is the country's education system?" Image copyright Weibo Various Chinese news publications report that the country's top media regulator has not issued a statement on the issue, despite repeated attempts to contact them.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-46902973

Is MercadoLibre a Buy?

South America-based MercadoLibre (NASDAQ: MELI) might be best thought of as an integrated ecosystem of e-commerce services operating within many Latin American markets. This ecosystem includes a marketplace platform where third-party sellers can list products for sale, a digital payments platform, virtual classifieds, a marketing and advertising platform, and a logistics and delivery system. In Argentina, MercadoLibre has even launched an asset management platform. The company is obviously seeing a good deal of success, and based on web traffic, it is the e-commerce leader in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay. More than most domestic companies, MercadoLibre is besieged by competitive and geopolitical risks unique to the regions in which it operates, while simultaneously presented with enormous opportunities due to those same regions' underdeveloped markets. As these competing thoughts take turns capturing investors' imaginations, Mercado's stock price has been known to fluctuate wildly. From last March to Christmas Eve, the stock price plunged 38%, only to climb 34% from its holiday lows to the present day. With the stock still down about 15% from its all-time highs, let's take a closer look to determine if this Latin American e-commerce company might be a good fit for your portfolio. Merchant in restaurant hands back credit card to customer. More MercadoLibre's mobile point-of-sale solutions division is quickly becoming one of MercadoPago's fastest-growing segments, growing 636% year over year, and representing almost half of MercadoPago's off-platform payment volume. Image source: Getty Images. Crunching the numbers In the company's 2018 third quarter, revenue rose to $355.3 million, an incredible 58.3% increase year over year. This top-line growth was spurred by growth in its online marketplace, which facilitated the sale of 83.5 million products, a 12.5% increase over 2017's third quarter. Meanwhile, gross merchandise volume (GMV) grew to nearly $3 billion, a 27.9% increase (both growth rates adjusted to make foreign exchange neutral). Investors found little cause for concern in Mercado's growth or revenue but, rather, in its increasing costs and disappearing earnings. Total operating expenses increased almost 22% to $180.7 million, while earnings per share (EPS) came in at a loss -- yes, a loss -- of -$0.23. That's down from a positive EPS of $0.63 in 2017's third quarter. Causes for concern MercadoLibre investors certainly endured a turbulent year in 2018, with a number of events taking their collective pound of flesh from its profitability. In December 2017, MercadoLibre decided to deconsolidate its operations in Venezuela. In the company's 2017 fourth-quarter conference call, CFO Pedro Arnt explained this decision, stating, "We have determined that we no longer have full accounting control of our subsidiaries in that country as a result of Venezuela's recent selective default determination, of increasingly restrictive exchange controls, sanctions on government officials, and other operating restrictions that have hindered materially our ability to make key financial decisions for that market."

https://news.yahoo.com/mercadolibre-buy-131600507.html

What's behind the success of Netflix's latest releases?

Image copyright Netflix Image caption Sex Education, Bird Box and You have been a big success for Netflix If you've spent the last few weeks binge-watching endless hours of TV (and finishing off leftover Christmas Twiglets) then you're in very good company. On Thursday, Netflix published the figures for some of their biggest recent releases - Sex Education, You and Bird Box. And those numbers were pretty impressive, with the two series on course to be watched by 40 million accounts by the end of the month. Bird Box, which features Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock as the lead, has already passed more than 80 million views. Going viral on social media Image copyright Netflix Image caption You has been a huge success on Netflix You, which is based on Caroline Kepnes' best-selling novel of the same name, was initially made for the Lifetime Network in the US, but only averaged about 611,000 viewers. Its addictive format, which sees psychopath bookshop owner Joe Goldberg stalk love interest and college student Guinevere Beck, had Netflix viewers hooked - and more importantly, talking about it all over Twitter. The series sparked a huge debate online over whether it was acceptable to empathise with Joe, so much so that the actor who plays him, Penn Badgley, had to remind people he was a murderer. Buzzfeed's TV editor Scott Bryan tells the BBC the combination of "Netflix's international appeal and social media influence" helped spread You a lot further than the Lifetime Network could. "If you'd have told me about You six months ago, then I wouldn't have known where to find it, but with Netflix's good marketing and social media, I could," he says. Image copyright Netflix Image caption This picture of Sandra Bullock turned into a viral meme on Twitter Bird Box also enjoyed similar social media success, with its star-studded cast of Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson and thrilling plot drawing in viewers. TV critic Emma Bullimore references the "Bird Box memes and viral social media campaign" that flooded Twitter over Christmas. "Bird Box isn't Citizen Kane, but it has incredible talent and is based on an intriguing concept," she says. "I saw the blindfold pictures all over Twitter so thought 'let me check this out'." Sex Education was late to the party with its January release date, but it too is set to reach 40 million viewers by the end of the month. The show follows a British sixth-form student, who opens up a sex therapy clinic to help his clueless classmates. It's resonated with many of Netflix's younger subscribers, whilst some of its wittiest lines have become popular memes on Twitter. "With Sex Education, British comedy has always had international appeal and that has been a driver for this series, and the fact there aren't many shows like it at the moment," Bryan explains. "Also it's got Gillian Anderson in it and a universal youthful appeal - I've seen it shared so many times on social media. "Plus it's well-written, thought through and really inclusive on LGBT representation and serious subjects," he adds. The Christmas effect Image copyright Netflix Image caption Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson in Sex Education Another important factor is the time of year - these releases all came out in late December and early January. Bryan tells the BBC: "Christmas is when people start a lot of shows and catch up", and adds that these releases really capitalised on that. "For example, Netflix released Black Mirror's Bandersnatch just after Christmas and people were watching it with their families." Bullimore also thinks downtime has played a part in impressive viewing figures. "People have a lot of time over Christmas and want to find something new to binge watch, so bored Netflix subscribers want to find something to get obsessed with," she tells the BBC. "You is a thriller and it grabs you and forces to watch the next episode." Image copyright Netflix Image caption Sandra Bullock's character learns the significance of birds in Bird Box At the end of December, Netflix tweeted that more than 45 million Netflix accounts had watched Bird Box - the best first week ever for a film on the service. This was the first time that we were given any indication of how shows and films are received on the network, and Netflix were clearly proud of these figures. "I think it's a bit of publicity to further their own advantage," says Bullimore. "They're really interested in their industry status, on getting Emmys and being involved with the big players so they get Hollywood stars on the network." "[Releasing these figures] shows the global power Netflix has," says Bryan. "They make shows that can be watched in 195 countries at the same time and this is something rivals can't do." Image copyright Sam Taylor/Netflix Image caption Emma Mackey and Asa Butterfield are two of the stars of Sex Education Bryan thinks that while these figures appear impressive, it's difficult to really measure their relevancy. "What I'm trying to get clarity on is what counts as a viewer. In a shareholder letter yesterday they counted a viewer as watching 70% of one episode; you don't see who drops off [and doesn't watch the rest of series]. "But if you looked at BBC figures for Killing Eve and Bodyguard you could see how many people were watching each episode." Bullimore adds: "Netflix's viewing figures have always been shrouded in mystery, they won't tell us how many people are watching but the rest of the TV industry relies so heavily on these figures. "Now suddenly after saying no, they're very willing to, but they are calculated in a different way, therefore a straight comparison is very difficult." But Hollywood Reporter said Netflix's content chief Ted Sarandos said the decision beind revealing some of its viewing figures was to share "cultural metrics". He added that in his opinion, what was important was being "in the zeitgeist", adding Netflix will "ramp up" future information on viewing figures. Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-46920719

Can pubs stand many more Dry Januarys?

Image copyright Rocket Leisure/ Graham Turner Image caption The Old Street Records bar in Shoreditch "As a small independent bar group, we do feel a hit at the start of the year," says Tom Jackman, director of the Northcote, Venn Street and Old Street Records bars in London. In January people are naturally recovering from the over-indulgence of Christmas, he explains, and have less cash to splurge on nice dinners, bottles of wine and going out. But he's faced an extra challenge over the last few years: Dry January. The charity campaign, which encourages people to stop drinking alcohol for the month, began in 2013 when just 5,000 people took part but an estimated 4.2 million Britons said they would participate this year. That may be good news for people's health but less so for pubs and breweries. "Imagine that each of these people would normally spend, say, 25 a week on alcohol," Mr Jackman says. "We don't have to do the maths to show you how much money the hospitality industry is set to miss out on." Certainly the reasons to take part in Dry January sound compelling, even if not everyone agrees that one month on the wagon is the best way to curb your drinking habit. According to a 2018 study by the University of Sussex conducted with over 800 Dry January participants, 88% said that they saved money, 70% had generally improved health and 67% had more energy. Moreover, the benefits lasted long beyond January, with participants saying they were still drinking less in August. But the campaign has hit pubs and breweries hard, says CGA Strategy, a consultancy that tracks the impact of Dry January. It found that the total number of alcoholic drinks served across the UK slumped by 7% in 2015 as the campaign gained momentum and is yet to recover. The trend has particularly hurt smaller operators, says Ash Corbett-Collins, national director of the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra). "Many breweries have chosen to brew less and many small, independent pubs that already have slim profit margins are bearing the brunt. Such a sudden cash-flow problem can spell life or death for these small local businesses." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Britons are, on the whole, embracing healthier lifestyles Not surprisingly, bars and pubs have been fighting back, says CGA, with special offers on food and a wider range of non-alcoholic drinks leading to a "positive effect on sales". A spokesman for pub chain JD Wetherspoon tells the BBC it "doesn't worry" about Dry January, noting its best-selling drink is in fact Pepsi and that it offers discounts on alcoholic drinks to offset the slowdown at the start of the year. Mitchells & Butlers says it has "embraced" Dry January, offering a wider selection of non-alcoholic beers, ciders and spirits, while McMullen & Sons says its January sales are growing despite many of its guests abstaining during the month. "Pubs are more than just about alcohol," says Heydon Mizon, joint managing director of McMullens & Sons. "We all need face-to-face interaction for our mental wellbeing and pubs play a vital role in this." Healthy trend Britons are, on the whole, drinking less and embracing healthier lifestyles, suggesting that pubs and brewers may need to adapt their offerings for the long term, not just at certain times of the year. According to research from industry-funded body the Portman Group, around a quarter of British drinkers have switched some of their drinks to low alcohol alternatives or would consider doing so in the next six months. The number of teetotallers is on the rise too. Image copyright Rocket Leisure/Evie Johnstone Image caption Pubs are offering a greater range of high end "mocktails" "Being healthy is becoming the new cool," says Jonny Forsyth, an associate director at Mintel. "Ten years ago it was considered cooler to drink than not to drink, but there's a real social pressure now to drink moderately." Brewers have responded with a raft of new low-alcohol products such as Heineken 0.0 beer, Kopparberg Alcohol Free Cider and Diageo's Seedlip, all of which are 0.5% alcohol by volume or less. We're also seeing a much greater range of "mocktails" and non-alcoholic drinks in bars - some of which cost more than their alcohol-based equivalents. "It's not that people are going to stop drinking alcohol but bars are going to need to be more seasonal in their approach, offering more non-alcoholic offerings at the start of the year and focusing on alcohol in the summer," argues Mr Forsyth. Mr Jackman of the Records Bars thinks the January lull is here to stay, however, and will be putting more of his focus on busier periods. "We prefer to maximise our biggest and best months, rather than changing our offer and our experience for the slower months. At the end of the day, there's still a massive amount of people out there who do want to party in January, so we stand our ground for them!"

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46919490

Could Kenya have prevented the hotel siege?

Image copyright Getty Images The deadly militant raid on a hotel complex in Kenya has raised questions about whether the security forces have learned any lessons from past terror attacks, including the four-day siege on the Westgate shopping centre in 2013. These days individuals and vehicles entering any major public premises in Kenya usually have to go through checks by private security companies involving a range of tools - metal detectors, X-ray machines, bomb detectors and sniffer dogs. Though Kenyans have varying opinions about how seriously the security personnel take this process. One place where they would be expected to be conscientious is the scene of the latest attack, the complex that includes the DusitD2 hotel, known by its address: 14 Riverside. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Nairobi Dusit hotel attack: explosions, gunfire and rescue operation It is home to a variety of businesses and a major hotel which was frequented by professionals, government officials and foreigners. In other words, the kind of location that the Somalia-based militant group al-Shabab would target knowing that the world would notice. Yet however strict the security measures and however conscientious those enforcing them are, there is only so much the building owners can do to secure their property and clientele, as Tuesday's events highlighted. The main responsibility lies with the Kenyan authorities. Most of the recent al-Shabab attacks on Kenyan soil have been around the border with Somalia, which appeared to feed a semblance of control and stability in the rest of the country amid a lingering threat. This however assumes that al-Shabab always plans its major actions in Somalia. Risk analyst Mathias Muindi thinks that this latest attack has signs that there was some level of preparation by Kenyan militant cells. "The evidence collected about the attack suspects has revealed links to parts of Kenya that are traditionally non-Muslim and non-Somali, where security agencies may not have previously paid much attention," he says. "The problem now is that they do not have the adequate manpower to run an expanded and robust nationwide intelligence operation." Emerged in Somalia after the collapse of Islamic Courts Union in 2006 Linked to al-Qaeda Battle the UN-backed government in Somalia Impose a strict version of Sharia in areas of Somalia under their control Have launched attacks in Kenya and Uganda - both countries have troops in Somalia Read more about the militants The quality and effectiveness of the government's anti-terror efforts will be scrutinised yet again - in particular whether crucial intelligence from local and foreign sources is acted upon. Kenyan intelligence officials argue that over the years they have had successes intercepting some suspected militants, potentially preventing more attacks and proving that they are making progress. They add that it has been nearly four years since the attack the university campus in the town of Garissa and more than five years since similar attack in the capital, referring to the Westgate siege in 2013. The suggestion is that such incidents are not the norm. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption At least 67 people died in the 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping mall Clearly, some lessons were learned from Westgate. The scale and depth of the emergency response - police and military counter-terror units, foreign security personnel, ambulance and fire brigade - that arrived at 14 Riverside showed organisation, in contrast to the shambles five years ago. Security agents arrived relatively quickly and showed composure as they evacuated civilians and screened them before letting them go, to be sure that the attackers did not slip out unnoticed. However, there were still some worrying lapses. 'Training is not enough' Security officials delayed enforcing a strict security cordon, meaning that there could have been more civilian casualties if there had been further explosions, a tactic al-Shabab has used in Somalia. A suspicious vehicle in the car park that security agents thought could have been used by the attackers remained unattended. Footage also showed an unexploded grenade lying in a corridor of one of the buildings as security agents shuffled in and out a few feet away. More on the hotel siege: There are wider issues to consider too for Kenya's security chiefs. "There is a lot of spending on training the security forces yet we only see limited effects because their welfare is poor," says George Musamali, the director of a private security firm. "Training is not enough. Equipping is not enough. Something needs to be done about human resource to make sure that these people are fully motivated to do their work properly." Image copyright AFP Image caption The security response was better co-ordinated compared to the reaction to the Westgate attack He also calls for a better channel of communication between the government and the public, not just in the aftermath of attacks but as a norm so that intelligence from the civilians can be properly gathered and used. The government responded to this week's attack by using a familiar tactic: downplaying the impact of al-Shabab's actions. This is part of an active effort to control the narrative and win the propaganda war that has accompanied this insurgency. Kenyans were warned against sharing gruesome images from the attack and on Tuesday evening Interior Minister Fred Matiang'i announced that the affected buildings had been secured and security forces were mopping up the area. Losing trust But this came as members of the public were reporting that their friends and relatives were still in the complex hiding from the attackers. Mr Musamali feels the government's tone only pushes away the public and loses their trust. The government is up against a group that has arguably the most advanced media operation of any militant Islamist movement in Africa, including established radio and digital outfits. It often films its attacks in Somalia, including the devastating assault on a Kenyan army base in the town of el-Ade exactly three years to the day of this week's attack. Some of its media material is produced in Swahili, clearly targeting audiences in Kenya, revealing its cross-border ambitions. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Kenyans will be hoping that the security lessons from this attack can be learned The threat will not go away in the short term and changes still need to be made. Andrew Franklin, a Nairobi-based security consultant and ex-US marine, says it is clear that the government's security agencies and the many private security companies are not working together enough "and that is evident in the obvious security glitches around Nairobi". Yet again, Kenya has suffered a big loss and as its people come to terms with this week's events they will wonder why it has to take catastrophe for more lessons to be learned.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46921249

Can anyone 'own' the Moon?

Image copyright NASA Image caption Buzz Aldrin was taken by the Moon's emptiness Companies are looking at mining the surface of the Moon for precious materials. It's almost 50 years since Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the Moon. "That's one small step for man," the US astronaut famously said, "one giant leap for mankind." Shortly afterwards, his colleague Buzz Aldrin joined him in bounding across the Sea of Tranquility. After descending from the steps of the Eagle lunar module, he gazed at the empty landscape and said: "Magnificent desolation." Since the Apollo 11 mission of July 1969, the Moon has remained largely untouched - no human has been there since 1972. But this could change soon, with several companies expressing an interest in exploring and, possibly, mining its surface for resources including gold, platinum and the rare earth minerals widely used in electronics. Earlier this month, China landed a probe, the Chang'e-4, on the far side of the Moon, and it managed to germinate a cotton seed in a biosphere on its surface. It's looking at setting up a research base. The Japanese firm iSpace is planning to build an "Earth-Moon transportation platform" and carry out "polar water exploration" on the Moon. Potential ownership of celestial bodies has been an issue since space exploration began during the Cold War. While Nasa was planning its first manned lunar missions, the UN put together an Outer Space Treaty, signed in 1967 by countries including the US, the Soviet Union and the UK. It stated: "Outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means." Joanne Wheeler, director of space specialist company Alden Advisers, describes the treaty as "the Magna Carta of space". It makes planting a flag on the Moon - as Armstrong and his successors did - "meaningless", as it doesn't confer any "binding rights" to individuals, companies or countries, she adds. In practical terms, land ownership and mining rights for the Moon didn't matter too much in 1969. But as technology has developed, exploiting its resources for profit has become a more likely - if still rather distant - prospect. In 1979 the UN produced an Agreement Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, better known as the Moon Agreement. This stipulated that they must be used for peaceful purposes, and that the UN must itself be told where and why anyone planned to build a station. The agreement also said that "the Moon and its natural resources are the common heritage of mankind" and that an international regime should be set up "to govern the exploitation of such resources when such exploitation is about to become feasible". The problem with the Moon Agreement, though, is that only 11 countries have ratified it. France is one, and India is another. The biggest players in space - including China, the US and Russia - have not. Nor has the UK. Anyway, Ms Wheeler says, it's "not so easy" to enforce the rules outlined in treaties. Different countries incorporate the documents they sign into law and have the job of ensuring companies and individuals abide by them. Image copyright Getty Images Prof Joanne Irene Gabrynowicz, former editor-in-chief of the Journal of Space Law, agrees that international agreements offer "no guarantees". Enforcement "is a complex mixture of politics, economics and public opinion", she adds. And the existing treaties, denying national ownership of celestial bodies, have faced an extra challenge in recent years. In 2015, the US passed the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act, recognising the right of it citizens to own any resources they manage to mine from asteroids. It doesn't apply to the Moon, but the principle might feasibly be extended. Eric Anderson, co-founder of the exploration company Planetary Resources, described the legislation as the "single greatest recognition of property rights in history". In 2017, Luxembourg passed its own act, providing the same right of ownership to resources found in space. Deputy Prime Minister Etienne Schneider said this would make his country "a European pioneer and leader in this sector". The will to explore and make money is there, with countries seemingly becoming more eager to help companies. "Clearly mining, whether with the intention of returning the materials to Earth or to store or manufacture with them on the Moon, is the very opposite of not doing any harm," says Helen Ntabeni, a lawyer at Naledi Space Law and Policy. She adds that it could be argued the US and Luxembourg have "bullied" their way out of the Outer Space Treaty's stipulations. "I'm quite sceptical that the high moral notions of the world exploring space together as equal nations will be preserved," she says.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-46877417

Why are so many people still dying from snake bites?

Image copyright Getty Images Tens of thousands of people die from snake bites worldwide every year. Lack of treatment and even the wrong medicine mean many of these deaths are preventable. Snake bites may not strike you as being a major public health problem. But in some parts of the world they are a daily risk, and can be lethal or life-changing. Victims often do not get the treatment they need in time, if at all. In other cases, they are given medicine to treat an injury caused by a different snake. About 11,000 people a month are thought to die from venomous snakebites - similar to the number that died during the whole of the 2014-16 West Africa Ebola crises. A further 450,000 people a year are thought to suffer life-changing injuries such as amputation and permanent disability. The scale of the problem means snake bites are now classed as a priority neglected tropical disease. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Children walking to school can be at risk of snake bite In developed regions - such as Europe, Australia and North America - snake bites kill only a handful of people each year, despite there being many venomous species. That is compared with 32,000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa, and twice as many in South Asia. Many rural communities in the tropics are at almost constant risk of snake bites, whether working in the field, travelling at dusk or even sleeping in their homes at night. Young male farmers are the most at-risk group, followed by children. While a large rural population is a factor, health systems in some parts of Africa and Asia are often ill-prepared for coping with snake bites. Clinical training, emergency transport and affordable medicine are often in short supply, with tragic consequences. Expensive medicine Venomous snake bites typically cause three main types of life-threatening symptoms: uncontrollable bleeding, paralysis and irreversible tissue destruction. It is essential for snakebite victims to get the correct medicine as soon as possible following a snake bite. Antivenom is the medicine of choice for treating snake bites. It is made using the venom of the snake it is designed to treat. This means that many different versions are needed, because there are so many venomous snakes found throughout the world - cobras, mambas, kraits, vipers and pit vipers, to name just a few. The toxins found in their venom differ from one group of snakes to the next, or even between the same group of snakes in a different region. This means the correct antivenom is often hard to identify and can be very expensive. How antivenoms are made A tiny non-harmful amount of snake venom is injected into an animal - usually a horse, or sheep This stimulates the animal's immune system to create antibodies that neutralise the venom These antibodies are extracted from the animal's blood, purified and made into antivenom Antivenoms must be used in hospital because of patients suffering a high rate of adverse reactions to the medicine In Latin America, antivenom is often produced in the country and subsidised by the government. Death rates are significantly higher in sub-Saharan Africa, where the best antivenom costs $140 to $300 (108 to 233) per vial, with three to 10 vials usually required to save a victim's life. As the typical Swazi farmer earns $600 a year, this medicine out of reach for most. The wrong antivenom Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A juvenile pit viper This situation has allowed weak or inappropriate medicine to flood the market over the past decade, particularly in Africa. These antivenoms often cost about $30 per vial - a fraction of the cost of proven products. Some African health ministries understandably saw this as a win-win situation, with more drugs available and at a lower cost. These products started being used in hospitals throughout much of the continent. However, there are now several reports that some of these medicines may be dangerously ineffective. Small-scale case studies from hospitals in both Ghana and Central African Republic have suggested that when these cheaper medicines were used, fatality rates increased from 2% or fewer, to more than 10%. Often, these antivenoms are made using snake venoms from a different region to where the product is being sold - for example an antivenom made with Indian snake venom being used in Africa. Others are made with the right venoms, but with a low concentration of antibodies per dose - resulting in very weak medicines. This means the number of vials needed to successfully treat the patient shoots up from three to 10, to as many as 20 or 30. Ironically, this situation has prompted some established manufacturers to cut supply of their much-needed products as they became priced out of the market. Lack of testing Image copyright Getty Images Image caption An eyelash viper These problems have been made worse by the lack of antivenom testing. Most drugs have to be thoroughly independently tested, with clinical trials to prove their effectiveness. But this often is not the case with antivenom. National drug agencies sometimes approve products without strong evidence of their effectiveness, or comparison with existing treatments. To tackle this, the World Health Organization has launched a pre-market testing scheme, with the results due to be published later this year. This should allow health ministries, pharmacists and clinicians to better understand which antivenoms are suitable for their region, while identifying responsible manufacturers of affordable antivenoms. However, manufacturers do not have to take part in the scheme, and countries are not obliged to remove products from the market based on the results. Nevertheless, it is hoped that this World Health Organization seal of approval will strongly influence antivenom purchasing decisions throughout Africa. More stories like this Looking to the future Effective antivenom is one part of solving the snake bite puzzle, but many other challenges remain. More work needs to be done to identify the communities most at risk and to ensure a sustainable flow of affordable medicine is sent there. Meanwhile, training more clinicians and healthcare workers in how to effectively treat snake bite victims would reduce the number of deaths. Finally, educating local communities about snake bites would help lower the risk of being bitten, and mean appropriate action was more likely to be taken after a bite. About this piece This analysis piece was commissioned by the BBC from experts working for an outside organisation. Dr Nicholas Casewell is a senior lecturer & Wellcome Trust research fellow at the Centre of Snakebite Research and Interventions (CSRI). You can follow him on Twitter here. Dr Stuart Ainsworth is a post doctoral research associate and lecturer on snakebite at CSRI. You can follow him on Twitter here. Edited by Eleanor Lawrie

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-45332002

Why are single women still mistaken for prostitutes?

Image copyright Getty Images In the age of #MeToo, a single woman sitting alone in a restaurant shouldn't be a problem. Especially, you would think, if that restaurant is in the middle of New York, one of the most progressive cities on the planet. So when Clementine Crawford was reportedly told she could no longer sit at the bar of her favourite Manhattan restaurant, she was confused. As she wrote later, she was even more confused when a man, arriving not long after she had been sat at a table, was allowed to take a seat at that very same bar. It was only, she says, when she pushed for a reason, that she was told "the owner had ordered a crackdown on hookers". Her years of regular dinners, and her high-flying job, appeared to mean nothing. The implication for all single women was clear. Incensed, Clementine, who divides her time between London and New York for her job with Finch & Partners, pushed for her right to sit at the bar, alongside her single male counterparts. But instead of a grovelling apology, her arguments were met with a shrug. She left the restaurant - a place she had loved, a place where the waiters had known her name, and now a place she no longer felt welcome. Clementine sums it up in an article she wrote about the experience for DrugstoreCulture.com. "All these years we have been battling for a room of one's own," she wrote. "Little did we know it, but we are still fighting for a seat at the table (or bar, to be strictly accurate)." Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Clementine Crawford, pictured here with TV personality Colin Cowie, is a senior executive with Finch & Partners Eating alone as a single woman is - for many - a daunting process. The protective barrier of a book or, more recently, a phone, makes it easier. Somehow you feel less exposed, less vulnerable. But ask around, and no one can quite put their finger on why they felt vulnerable in the first place. Certainly experiences like Clementine's - where the assumptions of staff or other diners is articulated quite so blatantly - appear few and far between. But, Clementine tells the BBC, it may be more common than we think. "Since the article was published a number of women - including women who live in modern-day Manhattan - have declared they experience similar treatment in a number of different settings and are relieved that a voice has been given to the '#smallstuff'," she told the BBC. "The restaurant anecdote is just symbolic of the many daily things women still have to endure even in this post #metoo era. "Some even said they don't feel comfortable dining alone for fear of objectification - that eating unaccompanied is a brave thing to do." Image copyright Gloria Atanmo Image caption Gloria Atanmo has built a successful career as a travel blogger US travel blogger Gloria Atanmo definitely recognises feeling exposed when dining by herself during five years exploring the world. "I travel by myself a lot and I have definitely had times where people look at me like I am waiting for a customer," she told the BBC. But there have also been the more blatant incidents where there was no mistaking exactly how she - a single woman of Nigerian origin - was seen, even when dressed in jeans and a jumper. "I think Rome was possibly my worst experience," she recalled. "I'm waiting under a bus stop sign, and every five or 10 minutes a car would slow down as it passed. "Finally, I got on the bus and maybe about five minutes into the drive I noticed women claiming their 'corner'. And they literally looked like me." You might also be interested in: Gloria also decided to write about her experiences on her blog, and, just like Clementine, was inundated with women wanting to share their stories of being single, and being mistaken for sex workers. But it wasn't just one group which found themselves stereotyped. In some places, looking Russian or eastern European meant you were equally likely to be perceived as a prostitute. The assumption a single woman by herself must be a sex worker is also not restricted to just the bars, restaurants and streets. Last year, Sherry Collins - the founder and editor of creative industry bible Pitch - revealed she had been asked "how much for the night" by a man during an event at Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Taking a stand against sexism and racism in the advertising industry As a result, she decided to take out a full page advert on the back page of her magazine the next year. It said, in capitals: "We are black creative women heading to Cannes. Please do not ask us how much for the night #AssumeNothing." "I speak out about this because I don't want someone I care about who works with me to experience what I experienced," she explained. Clementine had similar motivations when she spoke out: she says the article was her way of lifting the lid on a part of the fight for equality which doesn't often get talked about - the small ways in which women are objectified, or diminished, on a daily basis. "I am surprised that my essay has received such widespread attention," she said. "But it has struck me that the reason for this is that it has hit a cultural nerve, sparked another layer of debate with respects to equal rights that has not yet been appropriately called out or covered in mainstream debate." Most importantly, none of these women are willing to go unheard - and they are not willing to back down. Even with everything she has experienced, Gloria refuses to give up on any aspect of the life she choose to live - including eating alone. "I think there is something empowering about eating and drinking by yourself," Gloria said. "You become an enigma. "It says, I do not need someone on my arm to exist the way I want."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46920549

Should trains have separate compartments for 'bear children'?

As millions of people travel on trains across China in order to celebrate the new year, they are asking: "Should trains have children's compartments?" The hashtag #ChineseNewYearTravel2019 has been viewed more than 879 million times on Weibo where thousands of people are debating the issue. China's flagship radio station (CNR) discussed the question on air. A senior official at the China Railway Corporation, Huang Xin, thinks the idea is very creative. Billions travel for Chinese new year Nearly three billion trips - including train, road, air and boat - are expected to be completed between Jan 21 and March 1 this year, with 413 million of those by rail, according to China media. With so many people moving across the country at the same time it is perhaps inevitable that social media users are discussing ways to make travelling as stress-free as possible. Image copyright VCG Image caption People are divided over whether there should be a separate compartment for children on trains According to the Chinese newspaper People's Daily, separate compartments for children has attracted a lot of discussion online recently. More than 2,000 Weibo users have been discussing whether it would be a solution to "noisybear children" on the journey. 'Bear children' Some support the idea, saying "what most people are afraid of on a train is noisy bear children". A "bear child" is a common Chinese slang phrase meaning a child who is spoilt. The use of the word "bear" in this instance suggests some people in China think some children on trains can act in a feral way. Image copyright Reuters Image caption There's an emerging generation of "bear children" (children who lack discipline) in China The comment "a carriage full of 'bear children', I can't even imagine" gained more than 4,000 likes on Weibo. One Weibo user says: "Imagine them crying, one after another" Another says that maybe there wouldn't be a problem with excessive noise, if a child had people to play with. One says that there's room to discuss partitioning trains for family areas, adult-only areas, and private mother and baby areas. Children's compartments already exist in Germany. Deutsche Bahn (German Rail) offers a Mutter/Klein Kind (mother and small child) compartment in their newest trains. You may also like: But many think the idea is ludicrous. One says it is a "lazy" solution, and that "parents should be teaching their children public etiquette". Another agrees, saying "it doesn't make sense, nor improve the quality of people." One Weibo user says: "I don't support this! If I have children in the future, I don't want to have to sit in that carriage!" Some joke that it's a hark back to Cultural Revolution times, with one asking whether landlords should be segregated in their own carriage too. Analysis: Kerry Allen, BBC Monitoring Perhaps bizarrely, there have been a lot of stories in China's media in recent months, stressing that there's a demand for better controls on Chinese trains. This started with a spate of incidents involving "seat robbers" going viral. Travellers began flagging up badly behaved people refusing to move out of seats belonging to other people, and social media users jumped on the bandwagon sharing videos that they had seen of bad behaviour leading to nationwide shaming. At the same time, there has been a lot of dialogue in recent years about an emerging generation of "bear children" - children who are raised with no discipline, and misbehave at will. The one-child policy has been partly to blame for parents spoiling their only children and leading them to believe they can get whatever they want. Newspapers recognise that it is a modern phenomenon, and similarly, videos have circulated online shaming the parents of "bear children", and commentaries often appear debating how such children can be properly dealt with. China Railway Corporation's Huang Xin, said she always welcomed new ideas being put forward to the rail services. "(Translated from Mandarin) Whether or not it's necessary to concentrate noisy children in one compartment, all public transport faces a similar situation. "There are people suggesting that those who like to watch films or listen to music should be concentrated in one department. These suggestions provide inspiration for the improvement of the public transport sector, but also bring new challenges about how we can further improve and refine the services of public transportation."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-46946642

Is it OK to take the pill every day without a break?

Image copyright Getty Images Newspaper headlines this week have advised women that they can take contraceptive pills "every day of the month, without any break" to avoid monthly bleeds and period pain. But the professional body behind the guidelines that prompted the news reports says their recommendations have been misinterpreted. The Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) says while some women may safely try it, it won't suit everyone. Women should still talk to their doctors about what method of contraceptive is best for them. The combined oral contraceptive pill - usually just called "the pill" - contains hormones that can prevent pregnancy by stopping the user from releasing any eggs from her ovaries. When taken correctly, it is more than 99% effective - fewer than one in every 100 women who use it will get pregnant in one year - but it's around 91% effective based on "typical use". There are lots of different brands but the most commonly-taken packs contain 21 tablets - one to be taken each day for three weeks, with a seven day pill-free period at the end of the month when a woman will usually bleed. Some women can't take contraception that contains oestrogen and instead take the progesterone-only pill - also known as "the mini pill". The mini pill is taken daily without any breaks. The pill only works well as a contraceptive if you remember to take it as recommended. You've "missed a pill" if you take it more than 24 hours later than your chosen time. (This is different for the progesterone-only pill. Follow the instructions for your own medication.) Some brands contain 28 tablets - 21 real ones and seven inactive ones - to make it easier for women, meaning there is no break between packets of pills, although they will still probably have some bleeding each month. The FSRH says some women could take packets of 21 pills continuously, dropping the seven-day break entirely. Their recommendations, which are intended to guide healthcare professionals prescribing to women, say there is no health benefit from the seven-day pill break and some women can safely take fewer or no breaks to avoid monthly bleeds and cramps. It might make it easier for women to take them without forgetting a pill and reduce the risk of unwanted pregnancy, they say. FSRH spokeswoman Dr Diana Mansour said: "Pill-taking often isn't perfect; the riskiest time to miss pills is at the beginning and the end of a pill-free interval." Dr Jane Dixon, from the FSRH, told the BBC a lot of people stuck to the pattern of three weeks on, one week off, because they felt some reassurance that having a bleed meant they weren't pregnant. However, that bleed, she explained, actually doesn't give any such guarantee - it's just a reaction to no longer having the contraceptive chemicals in your system. She goes on: "There's no build-up of menstrual blood if you miss your break. And actually, for many women, it's not convenient to have a monthly bleed when they don't need one. "Also we know that quite a lot of women develop side effects in that week, like headaches and mood change." The pill can cause some side effects and it does not offer any protection against sexually transmitted infections. It has been linked to some serious health conditions, such as blood clots and breast cancer, although the risk is small. Dr Sarah Hardman from the FSRH said: "We are all different: there isn't any one method of contraception that is the 'best' method for every woman, so it's really important that women have choice. "Women need to know that there is a small increase in some health risks with combined hormonal contraception, so it isn't suitable for everyone." The combined pill is not suitable for women over 35 who smoke, or women with certain medical conditions. You should not take it if you are pregnant.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-46952694

What is President Weah's Liberia scorecard one year on?

As George Weah, at one time named the world's best footballer, marks a year in power in Liberia the BBC's Jonathan Paye-Layleh assesses his scorecard. There is no doubt that at 52, George Weah can still work a crowd. On New Year's Eve he invited his cabinet and supporters to the dedication of a private family church that he has had built. During the late-night service, the president turned preacher, sermonising for several hours. Dressed in white robes, he told the congregation at Forky Jlaleh Family Fellowship Church: "God has given each and every person talent that they can use for their own benefit." And he likened the opportunity to serve in his government to being on a football team. "When you are on the pitch playing you should know there are others on the substitutes' bench ready to replace you at any time," he said. This elicited cheers from the church-goers, but acknowledges the pressure the government is under. Arsene Wenger honoured In its end-of-year message, the Liberia Council of Churches summed up the inevitable frustration felt after the euphoria of Mr Weah landslide victory. "About a year ago, we elected a government with the hope that economically, our lives would be transformed," Kortu Brown, president of the umbrella Christian group, said on local radio station Prime FM. "But most often what we hear is the negative side of the governance process, the economic challenges by way of corruption, abuse, frauds, wastes." The opposition People Unification Party had more of a stark warning for a country still scarred by years of civil war: "At the end of your first year, our people, your people are hungry; the bread and butter issue keeps getting worse "[A] poorly performed economy is not a good sign for peace and security; when people are hungry they are most definitely angry; Liberia is angry because its people are hungry." Image copyright EPA Image caption Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was given a hero's welcome when he visited Liberia His critics point to one of his first priorities - the retirement of his number 14 shirt, worn during his playing peak - to illustrate what they feel is his lack of vision. Week-long ceremonies were organised in the capital, Monrovia, with Arsene Wenger, the football coach who had signed him up for Monaco in 1998, being flown over in September and given Liberia's highest honour. The president, who retired from football in 2003 to go into politics, played an international friendly as part of the events so the crowds could see him finally hang up the jersey he wore for the national side. It is easy to see that President Weah is a role model for many young Liberians - growing up in a slum in the capital, Monrovia, becoming one of the world's most famous footballs stars and then going back to school and university afterwards to finish his education before winning the presidency. Seven things about George Weah: Image copyright AFP Born 1 October, 1966, grew up in a slum in Liberia's capital Signed by Arsene Wenger to Monaco from Cameroonian club Tonnerre Yaound Made Monaco debut in 1987, went on to play for AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea Only African to win Fifa World Player of the Year First ran for president in 2005, losing to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Graduated with a business degree from a US university after being accused of lacking education Inaugurated as president in January 2018 But he faced some immediate criticism for not leading by example in declaring his assets to the anti-corruption commission - something all government officials must do before taking office, according to Liberia's National Code of Conduct. After enormous public pressure, he eventually filed a declaration in July. The whole saga left questions about his government's commitment to fighting corruption. He has also faced accusations about putting his personal business interests first, including pushing ahead with two big real estate projects. But the chairman of the ruling Congress for Democratic Change party said this proved Liberia was now a good place for good for all investors, and was a good thing for the floundering economy. "For you to make a determination to invest in a country, you must be guaranteed a security," Mulbah Morlue was quoted in Liberia's FrontPage newspaper this month. "Now, that the man is our president and has created security for all, the guarantee for one to begin to invest in our country is there." Image copyright AFP Image caption The president is fond of referring to his football career when trying to motivate people And the president has been attacked for the personal nature of other public infrastructure projects, from road improvement in his home areas to slum improvements where he grew up. When he ordered the re-roofing of more than 200 houses in Monrovia's Gibraltar slum, where he was born and raised, the initial official explanation was that the president was undertaking the project privately and paying for it himself. Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption George Weah: The football legend who became president But months after the work had been done, a memo to the finance ministry ordering the transfer of nearly $1m (775,000) in official funds to cover the costs was leaked to the media. The ministry of finance has so far remained silent since the publication of the memo. Free tuition for university students Such stories undermine confidence in his authority and make his leadership a constant debate on lively phone-in radio shows. But he was wildly cheered in October when he announced that tuition fees at state universities and colleges were being scrapped. However, there are some who fear the decision was not properly considered. Before the announcement, the University of Liberia was struggling to make ends meet and it currently operates at half of what it needs to function. Some, including university student leader Martin Kollie, saw it a tactic to distract from the scandal surrounding the allegation that $100m-worth of Liberian currency has gone missing. In March, stories emerged that the newly printed bank notes intended for the central bank did not reach their destination. The notes, ordered in November 2017 before Mr Weah took office, allegedly vanished from containers in Monrovia's port and airport in March, two months after Mr Weah became president. There have been regular protests outside the US embassy under the slogan "Bring Back Our Money", though central bank governor Nathaniel Patray has denied the money is missing. The government ordered an investigation in September, and Mr Weah also asked the US for help with the inquiry. Meanwhile, the journalist who first broke the story has faced death threats. On a personal level, there is no denying that Liberians are having to cope with a severe cash shortage, and people have to queue for hours and sometimes days to withdraw money from banks. Someone wanting to withdraw, for example, 25,000 Liberian dollars ($160) is given just 5,000 Liberian dollars ($36). 'I was a performer' As he inaugurated a community road just before Christmas, Mr Weah roundly rejected those trying to put him down - and said he was used to such pressure. "Remember I was a performer, I played in front [of] 100,000 people, 200,000 people; if I played bad, they laughed at me; they booed me; but with all the boo and what have you, I still became [the winner of] the Ballon d'Or," he said in December. "So anything you say, anything you do to tarnish my reputation - even though I am doing well, you are wasting your time." And after nearly a year in power, the president told his congregation as the New Year struck, that it was not a time for despondency: "Let's forget about all the setbacks in 2018 and focus on the prosperous New Year, what God gave you is enough."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-46947032

Why is Wales used as a unit of measurement?

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption You're going to need a calculator for this one... Chances are you've heard someone say - or read in an article - that something is "the size of Wales". It's about 8,194 sq miles (21,224 sq km) - or 2,122,400 hectares. Put simply, your typical rugby pitch is about one hectare, give or take. It's been used to describe the area an asteroid could wipe out if it hit the Earth and - perhaps literally and descriptively - how much damage a nuclear bomb could cause. Swansea University's Prof Adrian Luckman leads Project Midas, which has monitored iceberg A-68 since it broke away from the Larsen C ice shelf in Antarctica in 2017. He needed a way to put the size of the trillion-tonne iceberg into context so the average person could comprehend it, so turned his eyes to home. "The giant block is estimated to cover an area of roughly 6,000 sq km; that's about a quarter the size of Wales," a BBC report at the time read. "People in general find it easier to appreciate the size of geographical features when they are related to other known features, than when they are presented in units of, say square km," Prof Luckman said. "This is especially true for very large objects such as iceberg A-68. Giving a geographical comparison allows the reader to imagine how long it would take to walk or drive across them, for instance. "More prosaically, Wales has been used many times before as an area comparison, we live in Wales, and iceberg A-68 is a relatable fraction of the area of Wales, so it seemed like a very natural comparison to make." The use was so widespread, founders of conservation charity Size of Wales picked it for its name. Established in 2010, its original goal was to help protect an area the size of Wales from deforestation - which it achieved in 2016. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Wales has long been used as a way of getting across the devastation caused by deforestation Director Elspeth Jones said: "'An area the size of Wales' is frequently used to measure the rate of forest destruction. Our founders wanted to turn that negative use of the country's size on its head and make it a measure of something positive. "It's almost impossible to imagine how big two million hectares is without a reference point. Using 'the size of Wales' helps to illustrate the scale. "For example, when you tell people that roughly 12 million hectares of tropical forest is destroyed each year, the sheer scale of that doesn't register. "When you realise that is an area of tropical forest roughly six times the size of Wales, you can start to picture the scale of the forests and of the problem." Google's Ngram Viewer - which allows you to search words or phrases and how often they have been mentioned in millions of words in books dating back hundreds of years - suggests it has been around for a while. While not definitive, and there are other reasons why the phrase could appear, "about the size of Wales" first shows up in texts in 1844 and peaked in popularity in 1949. One wonders - if you laid out all the pages of those books next to each other - what size the area would be... This story was inspired by a question sent to us by Nicky Churchill from Goodwick, Pembrokeshire. She said: "It was one of those silly, surreal things - we'd heard two or three times in a row on some TV programme that something was the size of Wales. "We wondered why it was held as a standard for things so diverse - it just came from a late night conversation after a glass of wine." Use this form to send us your questions: If you are reading this page on the BBC News app, you will need to visit the mobile version of the BBC website to submit your question on this topic. We may get in touch if we decide to follow up on your suggestion.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-46737277

Has Fyre Festival burned influencers?

Image copyright Fyre Image caption Expectations.... "Fyre was basically like Instagram coming to life." Or at least, that was the idea, says DJ/producer Jillionaire in the new Netflix documentary Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened. The organisers spent eye-watering sums on an extravagant launch campaign with 10 of the world's top supermodels sharing gorgeous promotional pictures and videos of themselves partying in luxurious style on a sun-drenched island in the Bahamas. Kendall Jenner was reportedly paid $250,000 (193,000) for one single Instagram post announcing the launch of ticket sales and offering her followers a discount code. Despite the "luxury" tickets costing thousands of dollars, the event sold out - many snapped up by social media influencers keen to document their exclusive experience, many in exchange for free accommodation. The festival was supposed to run annually for five years. However, just like Instagram, away from the filters and the supermodels, the reality turned out to be somewhat different. Image copyright Netflix Image caption ... versus reality The "private jet" in which the guests were supposed to arrive, turned out to be an old rebranded aeroplane. The luxury accommodation consisted of rain-drenched tents, and the gourmet cuisine was a cheese sandwich. The event never took place. The organiser, Billy McFarland, is now in prison for fraud. Bella Hadid, one of the models who took part in the promotions, later apologised to her followers and said she had "trusted" the event would be "amazing and memorable". Kendall Jenner deleted her post. Two new documentaries about the luxury event that never was - one by Netflix, the other by US streamer Hulu - have thrown a spotlight on the influencers and celebrities who promoted it. You'd be forgiven for thinking this all sounds like extremely bad news for the influencer industry. But you'd be underestimating their Teflon-like resilience in the face of adversity. Image copyright Netflix Image caption Rapper Ja Rule took part in promotional activity with Billy McFarland Rohan Midha, managing director of the PMYB influencer agency, says that while Fyre itself was a disaster, the marketing choices behind it were not. "It just shows how powerful influencers can be," he told the BBC. On the subject of Fyre, he agrees that while the sheer size of the influencer campaign was "unusual", the results were not. "Influencers can reproduce the largest return on investment," he says. "That's across the board." Werner Geyser, founder of the Influencer Marketing Hub, agrees. He says since the release of the documentaries his web traffic has spiked as curiosity in the industry has increased. "If anything [the Fyre Festival documentary] was showing utilising influencer marketing was part of its success in terms of marketing the event," he says. "It's all publicity at the end of the day. I think brand managers and influencers will be more cautious and that can only be a good thing." Image copyright Netflix Image caption The Fyre team was keen to promote the exclusivity of the event Mr Geyser thinks the documentaries will emphasise the importance of regulation - the responsibility of flagging promoted content using hashtags like #ad, #spon and #sponsored. In 2017, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the US warned celebrities and influencers that they must be clear about when a post has been paid for - but not all of them do. "Trust is lost when you are selling something that you were paid for but didn't declare," says Mr Geyser. "If you can say something is sponsored [the consumer] can take it with a pinch of salt." Image copyright @world_record_egg / Instagram Image caption The egg that cracked Instagram If you doubt the power of a stranger on social media to tell large numbers of people what to do - have a think about this. "This month we've seen people being influenced by an egg," says Instagram consultant Danny Coy, referring to a picture of an egg which convinced more than 40m people to "like" it on Instagram. Mr Coy, whose photography account on Instagram has 157,000 followers, is a former influencer himself. "What's been happening for a while is the rise of the micro-influencer - people who have a much more organic following, less than 10,000, but they are really niche and targeted," he says. "If you want to geo-locate or target certain areas, brands would rather team up with 10 micro-influencers than one big one." The firm Neoreach offers data on influencer industry growth. According to its research and forecasts: The number of Instagram posts using popular hashtags to denote advertising or promotion has risen from 1.1 million in 2016 to 3.1 million in 2018 They predict there will be 4.4 million officially promoted posts in 2019 The average return on investment in 2018 was $5.20 for every dollar spent on influencer marketing, according to a study of 2,000 campaigns Instagram is the most popular platform for influencer campaigns, followed by Facebook and YouTube The influencer market size has grown from $1.7bn in 2016 to $4.6bn in 2018 and is forecast to hit $6.5bn in 2019 Image copyright The Fashion Law Image caption Bella Hadid was among those who posted an image of an orange square onto Instagram to promote the festival One expert who is not "liking" the influencer phenomenon is Dr Mariann Hardey, associate professor in marketing at Durham University. "I would counter that the influencer industry is not successful," she says. "It appears successful as an extension of aggressive marketing communications and PR methods, but as a standalone, self-sustaining and ethical industry it is far from successful." Dr Hardey points out a growing backlash over some influencer-endorsed products such as weight-loss tea amid reports that it can, in some cases, be addictive and even dangerous. "The backlash against these kinds of products is highly visible - in some cases known more than the influencers involved with the promotion," she says. Image copyright Jameela Jamil / Twitter This was raised by the actress Jameela Jamil, who started the high profile "I Weigh" campaign, to counter promotional weight loss messages spread by influencers, and to encourage more positive body image. Dr Hardey believes that influencers are not as powerful as they may consider themselves to be. "Consumers are smart," she says. "Overall, relying solely on influencers and the commercial viability of platforms such as Instagram [in a campaign] is precarious at best." That lesson was learned the hard way by those involved in the Fyre Festival. "A couple of powerful models posting an orange tile is what essentially built this entire festival," reflects Mick Purzycki, who worked on the festival, in the Netflix documentary. "And then one kid with probably 400 followers posted a picture of cheese on toast and that trended and essentially ripped down the festival."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/46945662

Who are the Black Hebrew Israelites who sparked the Lincoln Memorial standoff?

When a viral video showed a white teenaged boy from a Catholic private school standing and smiling at a Native American elder beating a ceremonial drum, the internet immediately assumed the worst. Nick Sandmann, a 15-year-old from Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, was wearing a Make America Great Again hat and his rowdy peers were shouting. Media coverage asserted this was another outbreak of white supremacy and privilege in America with only President Donald Trump to blame. But that wasnt the whole story. Nick Sandmann and the students of Covington have become symbols of Fake News and how evil it can be. They have captivated the attention of the world, and I know they will use it for the good maybe even to bring people together. It started off unpleasant, but can end in a dream! Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 22, 2019 In an interview with the Washington Post, Omaha Nation elder Nathan Phillips corroborated a public statement released by Sandmann that a third group was to blame for the escalation on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Then, a 90-minute YouTube video emerged showing the third group that Sandmann accused of offending him, his classmates and the Native American protestors: the Black Hebrew Israelites. They called the Native Americans literal descendants of the Israelite Tribe of Gad, the white students cursed Edomites and preached that a nuclear apocalypse was around the corner. They seen what theyve done. Theyve been told. I believe they are from Kentucky. Theyve never been spoken like that to by a black or Hispanic guy in their lives. The words of God, a black man who identified himself as Chief Ephraim Israel told the New York Post. It was piercing. Their souls was getting ripped. The group of six African American men with thick beards and long robes are members of the Black Hebrew Israelites, a group that white supremacists in the United States call their black counterparts. The Southern Poverty Law Centre says the black supremacist wing of the group is guilty of racism towards white people, anti-Semitism and homophobia. They are known for aggressive street preaching. There are a many different denominations of Black Hebrew Israelites. All of them have their own defining characteristics, charismatic leaders, traditions and beliefs. This makes categorizing them and keeping track of them difficult. The Black Hebrew Israelites trace their roots to 19th century America. Their founding belief is that African Americans are the direct descendants of the Israelites of the Old Testament and Gods chosen people. They claim the transatlantic slave trade was prophesied in the Book of Deuteronomy. For them, its proof of their ancestry. This is the one belief that unites all denominations. There is no one founder, but early organized denominations combined Jewish and Christian traditions such as eating kosher, gospel singing, reading the New Testament and wearing skull caps in prayer. The name Black Hebrew Israelites was coined in the 1960s; before that, members were called Black Jews. A related belief holds that white people are Edomites, the genealogical descendants of Esau the twin of Jacob. The Black Hebrew Israelites have churches across the United States including New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Virginia and a presence in Toronto. The church in Toronto is called Israel The Church of Jesus. The website lists a combination of Jewish and Christian holy days for members to observe and its YouTube page provides 168 sermons explaining what their church believes. BHI is also in Winnipeg. In 2015, CBC reported on an emergence of BHI street preachers there. According to CBC, the preachers used defaced posters of a white Jesus during their outdoor sermons. One BHI denomination emigrated from the United States to Israel. The entire community live in the town of Dimona and practise veganism. Evolution of beliefs. In the 1970s and 80s, one BHI denomination from Harlem known as One West began the tradition of wearing long robes and aggressive street preaching like the six men in the Lincoln Memorial video. They invented their own version of the Hebrew language and began including other marginalized groups of colour in their beliefs. One West leaders began teaching that Puerto Ricans and Native Americans were also the direct descendants of the original Israelites. In a one-hour video from the Lincoln Memorial, BHI preachers tell Native American protestors that they are also Israelites. The beliefs that draw criticism come from a 1990s BHI movement called House of Israel. This denomination is as social media savvy as it is loud. The men at the Lincoln Memorial on Jan. 18 are members of the House of Israel. Theyre active across platforms and their hundreds of YouTube videos have thousands of views. In an interview with CBC, BHI expert John Jackson from the University of Pennsylvania explained some radical BHI beliefs. Their ultimate goal is to bring about sort of a race war that will cleanse the planet and bring Jesus back. (They say) Were doing all this stuff. Were being as provocative as we are on the street corner because were really trying to foment the kind of ultimate clash between good and evil between Gods chosen people and the damned and the imposters so that we can bring about the second coming and a new world, Jackson said. Jackson also said many BHI believe European Jews are imposters. No denominations of Black Hebrew Israelites promote or support violence. Celebrity membership Rapper Kendrick Lamar referenced the BHI in his music by featuring his cousin Carl Duckworth, a member of a BHI denomination on the song Fear. At one point in the song, Lamar raps: Im an Israelite, dont call me black no more. Former first lady Michelle Obamas cousin Rabbi Capers Funnye is a prominent rabbi in Chicago. Funnye serves as an intermediary between mainstream African-American Jews and their BHL neighbours in Chicago. It depends. Some Black Hebrew Israelites have formally converted to Judaism and participate in Jewish communities, but most operate independently as the more radical denominations of the group are anti-Semitic.

https://nationalpost.com/news/world/who-are-the-black-hebrew-israelites-who-sparked-the-lincoln-memorial-standoff