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14.9.5 The Mode Bits for Access Permission

The file mode, stored in the st_mode field of the file
attributes, contains two kinds of information: the file type code, and
the access permission bits.  This section discusses only the access
permission bits, which control who can read or write the file.
See Testing File Type, for information about the file type code.

All of the symbols listed in this section are defined in the header file
<samp>sys/stat.h</samp>.

These symbolic constants are defined for the file mode bits that control
access permission for the file:

S_IRUSR

S_IREAD

Read permission bit for the owner of the file.  On many systems this bit
is 0400.  S_IREAD is an obsolete synonym provided for BSD
compatibility.

S_IWUSR

S_IWRITE

Write permission bit for the owner of the file.  Usually 0200.
S_IWRITE is an obsolete synonym provided for BSD compatibility.

S_IXUSR

S_IEXEC

Execute (for ordinary files) or search (for directories) permission bit
for the owner of the file.  Usually 0100.  S_IEXEC is an obsolete
synonym provided for BSD compatibility.

S_IRWXU

This is equivalent to ‘<samp>(S_IRUSR | S_IWUSR | S_IXUSR)</samp>’.

S_IRGRP

Read permission bit for the group owner of the file.  Usually 040.

S_IWGRP

Write permission bit for the group owner of the file.  Usually 020.

S_IXGRP

Execute or search permission bit for the group owner of the file.
Usually 010.

S_IRWXG

This is equivalent to ‘<samp>(S_IRGRP | S_IWGRP | S_IXGRP)</samp>’.

S_IROTH

Read permission bit for other users.  Usually 04.

S_IWOTH

Write permission bit for other users.  Usually 02.

S_IXOTH

Execute or search permission bit for other users.  Usually 01.

S_IRWXO

This is equivalent to ‘<samp>(S_IROTH | S_IWOTH | S_IXOTH)</samp>’.

S_ISUID

This is the set-user-ID on execute bit, usually 04000.
See How Change Persona.

S_ISGID

This is the set-group-ID on execute bit, usually 02000.
See How Change Persona.

S_ISVTX

This is the sticky bit, usually 01000.

For a directory it gives permission to delete a file in that directory
only if you own that file.  Ordinarily, a user can either delete all the
files in a directory or cannot delete any of them (based on whether the
user has write permission for the directory).  The same restriction
applies—you must have both write permission for the directory and own
the file you want to delete.  The one exception is that the owner of the
directory can delete any file in the directory, no matter who owns it
(provided the owner has given himself write permission for the
directory).  This is commonly used for the <samp>/tmp</samp> directory, where
anyone may create files but not delete files created by other users.

Originally the sticky bit on an executable file modified the swapping
policies of the system.  Normally, when a program terminated, its pages
in core were immediately freed and reused.  If the sticky bit was set on
the executable file, the system kept the pages in core for a while as if
the program were still running.  This was advantageous for a program
likely to be run many times in succession.  This usage is obsolete in
modern systems.  When a program terminates, its pages always remain in
core as long as there is no shortage of memory in the system.  When the
program is next run, its pages will still be in core if no shortage
arose since the last run.

On some modern systems where the sticky bit has no useful meaning for an
executable file, you cannot set the bit at all for a non-directory.
If you try, chmod fails with EFTYPE;
see Setting Permissions.

Some systems (particularly SunOS) have yet another use for the sticky
bit.  If the sticky bit is set on a file that is not executable,
it means the opposite: never cache the pages of this file at all.  The
main use of this is for the files on an NFS server machine which are
used as the swap area of diskless client machines.  The idea is that the
pages of the file will be cached in the client’s memory, so it is a
waste of the server’s memory to cache them a second time.  With this
usage the sticky bit also implies that the filesystem may fail to record
the file’s modification time onto disk reliably (the idea being that
no-one cares for a swap file).

This bit is only available on BSD systems (and those derived from
them).  Therefore one has to use the _GNU_SOURCE feature select
macro, or not define any feature test macros, to get the definition
(see Feature Test Macros).

The actual bit values of the symbols are listed in the table above
so you can decode file mode values when debugging your programs.
These bit values are correct for most systems, but they are not
guaranteed.

Warning: Writing explicit numbers for file permissions is bad
practice.  Not only is it not portable, it also requires everyone who
reads your program to remember what the bits mean.  To make your program
clean use the symbolic names.

Next: Access Permission, Previous: File Owner, Up: File Attributes   [Contents][Index]


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Home > Datarails Blog > FP&A Today Episode 31, Cole Dixon: How Cotopaxi uses FP&A in its Mission
FP&A Today Episode 31, Cole Dixon: How Cotopaxi uses FP&A in its Mission
by Jonathan Marciano
You may not have heard of Cotopaxi. But you have likely heard of similar companies doing something different- Ben & Jerry's, Allbird, Patagonia, and BrewDog.
What these companies have in common is B Corp certification. This is awarded to businesses for meeting the highest standards of accountability for social and environmental impact. Last year Cotopaxi also gave away $1.3million in donations as part of its pledges.
But how does an FP&A team work to advance this mission? How can FP&A work to achieve goals which are ultimately not about maximizing shareholder wealth.
Cole Dixon is FP&A Director at outdoor sports company Cotopaxi which has a tagline of Gear for Good on its high performance and eye-catching gear. For Dixon, the FP&A function at the company is central to "upholding a mission of our founders Davis Smith and Stephan [Jacob] that Cotopaxi can get us exploring and make a positive impact on other people's lives. So we're really truly committed that all of our products can be repurposed and that we prioritize human rights."
Every FP&A metric – units per transaction, average order value, average store volume, the inventory returns for stores – also incorporates the company-wide mission.
Listen to the fascinating story from Cole Dixon in this week's FP&A with Paul Barnhurst.
Cole reveals:
The Ecommerce metrics and FP&A role that helped Cotopaxi to open stores during the pandemic
How FP&A partners with marketing to succeed in new ventures, such as the outdoor gatherings (Questival)
How Cotopaxi handled scenario planning and cash flow planning as stores closed during the pandemic
How he dealt with his biggest failure at Skullcandy, the lifestyle audio brand where he managed FP&A prior to Cotopaxi
How to build an FP&A team from scratch as he did at Cotopaxi
The importance of constantly "looking forward" to finding new values for in FP&A
Paul Barnhurst:
Hello everyone. Welcome to FP&A Today. I am your host, Paul Barnhart, AKA the FP&A guy, and you are listening to FP&A today. FP&A Today is brought to you by Datarails, the Financial planning and analysis platform for Excel users. Every week we welcome a leader from the world of financial planning and analysis and discuss some of the biggest stories and challenges in the world of FP&A. We'll provide you with actionable advice about financial planning and analysis today. This is going to be your go-to resource for everything FP&A. I am thrilled to welcome today's guest on the show, Cole Dixon. Cole, welcome to the show.
Cole Dixon:
Hey, Paul, it's great to be here.
Good, well glad. We're really excited to chat with you. So a little bit about Cole. Cole is from Salt Lake City, born and raised. So him and I have a little bit in common there as we were both born and raised in Salt Lake City. He earned his bachelor's degree at Westminster College and an MBA from the University of Utah. And kind of interesting fact, we'll share one here now and he'll get to tell us another one later. He's a four-year student athlete in golf there at Westminster and he's worked in FP&A for the last eight years and he's currently the director of FP&A for Cotopaxi. And I'm really excited about that. I'm a huge fan of Cotopaxi, but I'll let him during the podcast tell us a little bit more about the company, but maybe if you could just go ahead and share a little bit more about your background and how you ended up in fp and a.
Absolutely. Yeah. As you mentioned, Paul, I'm local born in Salt Lake and always stayed around. I fell in love with the surrounding valley and the proximity to outdoor recreation. That's really why I've stayed here from an early age. My parents have really prioritized instilling that sense of adventure for me. So exploring and getting out, I think that includes multiple week transits on a sailboat from the Pacific Northwest up to Alaska. Got the chance to sail on the a GNC along that coast of Greece. Looking back on that now it's really helped shape me as an individual. I've got my own little family and I'm really incredibly grateful that for that dedication that they really instilled the sense of adventure in me. My family's been active in scouting. I grew up skiing, golfing, biking, really taking advantage of the world class slopes. As you know we have here locally in college.
I went to Westminster was a business major and at the time sophomore age, I wasn't even fully aware of the FP&A field. I was heavily involved looking at a CFA personal finance classes, <affirmative> entrepreneurship, intern insurance even caught my eye. So trying to figure out what I was doing still. And in order to graduate with my Bachelor of Arts in finance from Westminster, I was required to get an internship and was lucky enough to have a connection up at Skull Candy at the time. So really one of the most exciting companies around. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> Fun Products. Actually wearing some skull candies right now. Republic at the time, interesting enough, had the highest short ratio in the NASDAQ for a moment there, north of 50% or so, revenue of around 300 million. Just a really fun brand to work for. Had some of the biggest names and both music and sports that we got to see on our roster.
So had an amazing time up there. Right. Got experience what a public company was like. Got all accounting roles starting in AR mostly, but was able to navigate that into a six year career at Skull Candy focusing on FP&A and found a true mentor there in Jason Hodel who helped me fall in love with corporate finance, the operational side of the business and how as an FP a individual we can make an impact on the financial health of an organization. So after about six years of Skull candy, I decided to take on a new challenge, which was helping a small organization less well known Cotopaxi. So about three years ago not quite three, but I joined Cotopaxi October of 2019.
Great. Well no, I appreciate the background and when you mentioned the sports in the valley here and also mentioned Greece. Funny enough, I got to do a trip to Greece and did whitewater rafting in Greece and got to Kayak and the Adriatic Sea. So I can relate to some of the things you were mentioning there. Some of my adventures, this was a grad school transitioning economies in Eastern Europe, did a course over there for about 10 days. And so it was a great experience. So yeah, I agree with you. You can't beat the outdoors here. It's a great place if you love the mountains and for those who do a lot of skiing and just hiking and all those type of things, it's a great place to be. But kind of getting back to FP&A, so Skull Candy sounds like a great opportunity to see a public company, learn from one of them here locally, see how FP&A works and kind of cut your teeth. And then as you mentioned, you joined a small, smaller company called Cotopaxi. So maybe could you tell us a little bit about Cotopaxi? I know they're a Corp B, I don't think a lot of our audience probably even knows what that is. So maybe just talking a little bit about their roots, their background and how a corporation B is different from most corporations out there.
Absolutely. In the simplest form, it's just another type of corporation. I think the most popular instances you see are going to be a C Corp and LLC. Those are probably the most popular names you're going to recognize. Mm-hmm. Koi from our founders chose to go a different path and that's becoming a B Corp certified as a B Corp. So obviously the founders prioritize that. It aligns with their overall mission. And what's unique about that is that we're assessed and scored by non-profit organization called BLab. So they give us the designation. There are certain benchmarks for social and environmental impact that we have to adhere to and there's a score as well that BLab administers its score of up to a 200. And you have to essentially prove that you're making a measurable impact in order to qualify to be considered to be corp. So the overall measurable items they look at are social issues the measurable impact on the environment, maintaining accountability and transparency. So that involves transparency on charitable giving, your supply chain, your material inputs, your labor practices, how you treat employees. Really all of the above. I think being a B Corp holds us to a higher standard compared to most organizations.
And I know there's a number of companies that people may recognize as B Corp's, Patagonia being one Ben and Jerry's is another one that I'm familiar with. And then there's a number of malos here locally and a lot of other companies. I think All birds is one, if I remember right. That's
I believe WarbyParker is in that group and some others that people may recognize. So maybe just a little bit, I know the B Corp stands for Benefits Corp. Cotopaxi has a pretty clear mission. I know their tagline. If anyone's familiar with the goods gear for good, you see their shirts that say Do good and a real focus on that. But what does that mean? I know they do some things around poverty, sustainability. Do they give up certain percentage of revenue? What's the requirements or what is it that they do on that front? Could you talk a little bit about that?
Definitely it. It's core to who we are our founding team, Davis [Smith] in particular, and Stephan [Jacob] really started the organization with the belief that outdoor products can get us exploring and make a positive impact on other people's lives. So we're really truly committed that all of our products are from recycle, the repurpose materials in factories that prioritize human rights. So at our core, our gear is made in a sustainable and responsible way. So as a consumer who chooses to buy that with their dollar, you're supporting a company that prioritizes efforts to fund sustainable poverty relief. So really at our core, that is what every business decision we make revolves around. And not only are we a B Corp, we're also really a leader in using business as a force for good. So we're a member of a few other organizations. In addition to being a B Corp, we're part of the Outdoor Industry Association, the Pledge for 1% for the Planets, sustainable Apparel Coalition, fair Trade certified, as well as climate neutral. So we see all of these in tandem with being a B Corp as just a different way to establish what a leader for business models should look like, the new practice looking past the bottom line and trying to figure out how we can make a positive impact on the world.
No, great. And I appreciate that. So maybe can you talk a little bit about how working for a company with your mission beyond maximizing shareholder wealth, I mean know obviously they have to do that, especially being that they have venture back capital. There's not a lot of firms that have started as a Corp B with that. I've read quite a bit and listened to some podcasts of Davis. So I know there's a lot there. But how has that impacted your role as a director of FP&A? How has that been different for you to balance some other purposes beyond what you might typically see in a company?
I think it's really the typical response for public company or other organization that a finance team's job and most of the other C'S job is to create shareholder value, drive shareholder value, and that's ultimately the end goal for most companies. I think that's really not the case at Cotopaxi. It's an afterthought, frankly. We're focused on being that model company that's using their products, their value proposition to drive positive social change and ingraining that in every decision we do from initial concept phase all the way through where a product ends up in a customer's hand. So getting us on the right track in all of those things and thinking about shareholder values and afterthought, making sure we're being responsible in every single aspect of our business. Shareholder value is going to be a result of those decisions being a beacon for both our customers and other organizations around the globe proving that we can do business in a sustainable way.
So speaking to that and that mission, how is your job different than maybe it was at other companies in FP&A? Has that made your job different or do you feel like your job is really pretty much the same in the sense your finance, your job is to make sure we maximize returns within some constraints that you have as a business? So maybe talk a little bit about what is FP&A is like day to day as you're doing budgeting and working with the partners in comparison to other for-profit places that are a little different. I mean, I know they're both for-profit, but your standard corporation, just maybe how it's different.
Absolutely. I think the FP&A day to day job, the overall goals are largely the same. That's going to be pretty standard, very similar to the industry that I'm in, the outdoor industry, the apparel industry. So I think what's different about Cotopaxi is that we do ingrain our foundation, giving our efforts to alleviate extreme poverty that impacts just about everything we do. So it's not only a line on our P&L, but it impacts the way we market, the way we create products, which companies we choose to do business with, which customers we choose, et cetera. So more specifically on that 1% we're dedicated, 1% or more of our revenue goes to our Cotopaxi foundation. From there, it's distributed in the forms of grant to humanitarian organizations. That includes some big names, the International Rescue Committee, the , mercy Corps United to Beat Malaria. Those are a few biggest partners.
And in general, I think it's not something you typically see on a company's financials. Last year alone in 2021 , we gave away almost $1.2 million, including mass donations, which frankly blows us away in terms of the number of people we're able to impact. It's about 1.3 million across the globe and about 2% of total revenue was dedicated to help alleviate poverty. So from an FP&A standpoint, it's not just another line item you have to budget for. It's more comprehensive than that. It truly goes into every day to day decision is trying to align with our overall objective.
Okay. No, fascinating. And so if I know Cotopaxi, in addition to be a Corp B, they've raised that venture capital I think was about a year ago. They raised some to expand internationally. So they're obviously a high growth company really focusing on growing. I know during the pandemic they opened a number of stores. So maybe talk a little bit about how it's been being in that high growth environment, especially looking to expand internationally, expanding your retail footprint in addition to your eCommerce. Because I know they started as pretty much digitally native with a flagship store, and now I think you guys have what about 10, 12 stores?
That's exactly right, yes. Yeah. So started as a direct consumer business. Vast majority of the revenue coming from just online sales. We also had a corporate event we called it Questival, just a unique marketing tactic to go get in front of colleges and another young people who wanted to get familiar with the brand and understand what we're about. As far as of key metrics. we're an omnichannel business. We've grown from that purely digitally native brand and now have an omnichannel approach where we've got a kind of unique flywheel that all of these various channels and strategies connect to help grow the brand. So in terms of where we started the direct consumer brand, we're focused on the e-commerce side, looking at sessions, the high cost, low cost traffic that we're seeing, what our conversion rate is, how we can bring more folks, and really driving top of funnel awareness.
Cotopaxi is well known here locally, maybe even the west, but how do we take that next step to grow internationally, as you mentioned, and really across the United States as well. So yeah, focusing on really awareness, that's a key metric for us. On the direct to consumer side, we own our own retail stores as well. You mentioned we have about 10 stores really across Utah, Washington, Colorado, California, and going even further as well, looking at Midwest and East Coast down the line. But in that channel in particular, we're looking at some other key metrics like units per transaction, average order value, average store volume, the inventory returns for store. And we've also got other business segments. I mentioned the omnichannel approach on the B2B side, business to business side of the channel strategy. We've got the wholesale team, international customers, and what we call the corporate channel. So obviously on the wholesale side you're going to think of REI or DSG, Shields, some of those big box stores that we partner with. International, it's more the distributor model, and the corporate channel is more local companies here that like to throw Requestable events to improve their employee experience. So on that side, some similar metrics looking at sell through performance, sell through data, which products are working well, velocity to those sales, how many doors we have sales per door and average order value as well for those channels.
So a lot of typical, it sounds like kind of retail e-commerce, not just e-commerce but digital. But different retail metrics, understanding the average order value, the what's drawn to the website. Each one's a little different, but I would imagine all those metrics are really driving revenue, which you can then figure out what's it, okay, what's our expense profile, what can we spend based on what we can generate in revenue outside of cogs, I know obviously retail, huge cost, a good sold component there. Your biggest expense I would assume. Yes. Followed by salary. So maybe you had mentioned a Questival. Could you just for our audience, just so they know, maybe give us a one minute, what is that and how did that kind of marketing event maybe help drive Cotopaxi?
Absolutely. I think it's one of the most creative marketing tactics I've seen deployed, and especially for a young and growing company. The basic premise of the event is just a small entry fee, which covers your backpack and likely a t-shirt. And that gets used access to the event. So you get your code backpag, your T-shirt, and we leverage our internal app. So we've got a Questival app where a team logs on and there's various challenges. It's an adventure race, so you're running across all over town doing these activities that are mostly involved with doing good in the community. So giving back in some shape or form, also getting out your comfort zone is a big part of it. So it's a great way to bond with new people or your existing friends and family and a fantastic way to get our brand image out there and really what our core value proposition is to customers. And that's to do good.
Okay. Now I'll just add a little bit to that. I know when they started those just for audience, kind of fascinating, they had a couple of llamas, which is their mascot and college campuses 24-hour activity where you're doing a combination of outdoor and service activities. So really creative way to drive lead gen. I think it would've been fascinating to kind of analyze that from a finance standpoint and see the revenue that it generates. Talk a little bit, and I'll share an example here. I know Cotopaxi does a very good job of tracking its customers. And I know because I've signed up and if I go on the website, I get a text message saying, Hey, we saw you were looking at such and such sure and pretty regular messages. It seems like you guys have a very good marketing program to connect with your customers. So maybe talk about from a finance standpoint, how you manage the marketing spend, how you look at the metrics and just kind of as a company, how you guys think about that and how you as a FP&A professional ensure that that marketing spend is being maximized.
Absolutely. I'm glad you brought this up. I think when we talked metrics earlier, I had skipped over a lot of these, which is customer acquisition costs, both acquisition and retention costs and just cost to reach other thousands of other potential customers. So how we managed at Cotopaxi, right, it's typically seen as a percentage of revenue. We also track high cost and low cost sessions. So certain platforms like Facebook or other types of social media are typically higher cost as whereas a lower cost would be a Questival event an email or an SMS text message, a little lower geared to somebody who's already familiar with the brand. Where we see the higher cost is trying to spread awareness, trying to get in front of people. It has a lower conversion theoretically, but also is beneficial in terms of expanding the overall pool. And it is one of the top spends at Cotopaxi. It is for most companies. In terms of marketing outside of per and cogs, I think marketing is probably third place and something we monitor flex up or down significantly. Obviously as we're a growing brand, it's been a massive investment for this year on the customer acquisition side, driving top of funnel growth in order to obviously drive the order count as well.
And so what question for you, what advice would you offer to our audience and people about partnering with marketing? Because I know often finance and marketing can get at heads because marketing, it's very hard to attribute that dollar that was spent actually generated a return. Where did it come from? Because you're omnichannel and doing a lot of different marketing. So what advice would you offer to people in FP&A about one, thinking about how you contract things and partner with marketing so you don't run into those kinda loggerhead issues of budget and overspend and the challenges and just the difference of how marketing thinks about things and how finance thinks about things.
Yeah, absolutely. I think on the finance side, it's incredibly easy to get into that score keeping mentality. Month to month, we missed our EBIDTA target, we beat the EBITDA target and influencing your reaction based on that. I think what's worked best for me in partnering with the marketing team is to see a little bit of a broader horizon. In particular for a brand that's trying to grow our awareness. We're not going to see these investments pay off in the next three to six months. It might be 12 to 18 months. So on the first side of that, I think understanding the bookings, the traffic they're driving, the overall way they're growing the business in terms of total sessions or traffic is incredibly important. And there's value to add to that, right? Even though it didn't actually turn into a transaction, getting in front of people is incredibly important. So I think the best way I've seen partnering with marketing to reiterate is not necessarily focusing on short term or past results and having a longer term horizon for your expectations.
That makes a lot of sense. I could see that long term horizon and working with them to understand the long term benefits, what it is.
[Datarails ad]
So another question here that I wanna get your thoughts on is I know you've been with cotopaxi for a few years, so you were there during the pandemic and I know every company experienced the pandemic differently. But maybe could you talk a little bit of working for a small kind of startup retail environment where all of a sudden everything was shut down. How was an FP&A a person you managed through that, what that was like? Maybe just take us a little bit through that experience and how you guys experienced it? I know like Amazon, there was explosion to growth. I know there was probably a mix for you guys and I think you had some stores and warehouse and you also had your e-commerce channel. So maybe just talk a little bit about that.
Yeah, absolutely. So obviously joined Cotopaxi in October of 2019, so was about six months in when this all hit. And it was a challenge. I think scenario analysis is an understatement just iterating over and over again to really make sure that we're not making a drastic decision that's going to inhibit future growth. So a lot of tough challenges. I think seeing our retail stores completely shut down that was one of the hardest things we had to do. Obviously if the stores are not open, we can't employ those individuals who we call our retail guides who manage our stores. So that was an incredibly difficult decision. Our own warehouse as well. Just new standards s had to be implemented both at our headquarters, our office down there at 74 main in Salt Lake City as well as our distribution center. I think on the FP&A side, it was just pulling out all the stops nothing's sacred anymore.
Let's see how we can use this as a trial in order to shine a light on areas that we need to improve on and double down on those improvements. So we came out of the pandemic with some great success and I don't wanna understate how tough it was during those times and some decisions had to be made, but we as a team made a pivot towards mass sales and doing it in a different way than really anyone else out in the industry that I saw is that for every mask we sold, we donated one. So kinda that one for one similar to the Bombas or Tom's shoes type method but in a time that people truly needed it especially people outside of us and poverty stricken region. So Doting Mask was a huge value proposition for us that we offered to consumers and they bought in a big way.
So we sort of pivoted from our typical product roadmap and turned those around immediately. Not immediately but just months rather than half a year or a year, which was a tremendous effort from the team and it became really one of the top sellers and margin drivers for the business. Not necessarily this year but more looking 18 to 24 months ago. And the learnings from it have been pretty amazing. I think the takeaway for me is just the strength and the executive team and the team they've built around them. The willingness to roll up the sleeves when the world's in chaos, the willingness to commit their time, their weekends, their nights, to walking through all these various scenarios and helping make the best decision for the company. And looking back in hindsight, we made a lot of good progress that set us up for some great growth.
No, I still have a couple of those masks upstairs somewhere. I hadn't had to wear one for a while, but I remember them doing that. And so kind of speaking, what was the, talk about the executive and learning a lot in a business, doing a lot of scenarios, but what was maybe the one key from an FP&A standpoint take away from that whole experience that you'll take with you moving forward as you try to be a better FP&A professional? Was there one or two kind of key takeaways for you personally?
I think it really comes back to the scenarios. Having at bare minimum a best case middle and worst case scenario. Because the one thing you can guarantee is the change is constant no matter what happens, no matter how stable you think your business might be. Events like this happen where you have to question if you can make the next payroll. You have to question certain partnerships and vendors and try to revisit everything. And I think the one major takeaway for me is just modeling cash flowand being sensitive to changes up or down.
Paul Barnhurst
Did you guys change the way you modeled cash flow? Had you've been doing it all long, did you do it more often or how did that change for you? Because I imagine that was a real tight time.
Absolutely. Yeah. So we did change cash flow. Typically we do the entire three statement model each quarter. So just quarterly forecasting, obviously intra month we're working on that next revision. So it's sort of a continual process looking at rolling 12 months if not longer, the three to five LTFM year timeframe in that moment, right March of 2020 through really the summer. It became a daily if not weekly exercise where we were creating different scenarios, different models pulling from here given back there. So it did radically change how we modeled in that short timeframe.
No, that makes a lot of sense. I can remember doing a lot of those things not so daily, but around cashflow and different things and managing as tightly as we could. It was definitely a unique time. Thank you for sharing that. What would you say for somebody who wants to work in a startup environment kind of FP&A, I know a company has to hit a certain scale before they bring in somebody full-time FP&A, but what advice would you offer for somebody who wants to work in that type of environment?
Absolutely. I think it doesn't have to be a finance background necessarily. I think you can start practicing FP&A tactics in any really field you're at. Whether you're a budget owner who works at marketing or product or if you're just on the accounting team. I think back to that score keeping mentality. If you're only looking at past results, it's gonna be hard to influence decision making going forward. So how do you look forward? How do you add value to team members across your organization? And I think even if you're not on the FP&A track as any member of a company, if you have that mindset of forward looking rather than backward looking, I think it'll be helpful in starting your career in FP&A. Just having that mindset of how do I add value forward looking, not necessarily just measuring KPIs and looking backwards.
I really like how you mentioned looking forward, right? Cause that's really what FP&A is about. It's helping create value going forward. Accounting takes care of the reporting, what happened and obviously we have to analyze it and understand it, but that analysis and understanding of it is to drive it forward. So I think that's really good advice. Whatever role you're in work field, I wanna get into FP&A is be able to be forward looking and so I appreciate that answer there. So question for you here. As you look back at your career now, is there one accomplishment that you're most proud of? So if I had you in a job interview and I asked you that question, what would be the answer give me?
Yeah, I say a lot to be proud of. I think one pivotal moment for me in my career was at Skullcandy. I sort of reached my point in my FP&A career where I was leading a team and had seen some dramatic changes happen. The sale of a company called Astra Gaming, obviously the leveraged buyout was a public company and gotten taken off the market by the private equity firm. So a lot of transition and in that moment a lot of testing, a lot of cost-cutting exercise optimization, all business need focusing on cross margin in particular. In that moment I was sort of a senior analyst, manager of FP&A. Had a team of two is all- a director of FP&A above me and the CFO. I had those two individuals leave both within three to six months of each other leaving me as the sole finance lead for Skullcandy at the time.
And I looked back at that moment late nights hard work stress had a young family as well. And in the moment I think it felt like I was going through fire. I look back at it now thinking about that was a pivotal moment for me to prove out that I love FP&A work. I love corporate finance and I think the impact you can have in this role is so amazing. And part of the function I love the most right, is your ability to be important to the company, have your hands in all decision making processes and truly add value to those respective team members.
No, I like that answer. And it sounds like you thrived as best you could in what's a challenging situation. You had to step up and probably do things you hadn't done before, figure out things that you hadn't figured out before as you're being that primary finance contact for the company.
Yes. And looking back on it now, I think that helped tailor how I approached Cotopaxi, The first FP&A team member I hired there. There was essentially a top down model that was managed by the executives, I helped bring on some new practices, right? Implemented an EPM tool, helped turn it into more bottoms up forecasting, longer range forecasting, adding some of those nitty gritty details that are worth spending time on and help drive the accuracy to forecast.
No, great. I could see where that definitely would help and have to build all that at yet probably build a lot of process and bring that discipline because the executives, yeah they're gonna plan and they're going to forecast. But I'm going to guess it was a little different than when you come in as an FP&A professional and start putting those processes in place. So how did you manage being new, speaking to that, changing things, if I'd kind of been done by the leadership, was there a level of kind of sensitivity you had ? Was there any kind of sense of ownership of hey this is how we've done it, or is it pretty much, hey you're our new FP&A guy, tell us how this should work. How was that kind of experience?
Frankly, a little bit of both came and on established brand, not necessarily very well-known across the overall country, but had a brand image that was well perceived across the city of Utah and the west here. And some practices in place that were really top of class. I think where I came in and kudos to the executive team, Gary Bow and the CFO they hire people across the organization that are experts in their respective field and they enable them to go implement some of these best practices and best tools. So I got the sort of free will from Gary to go do a lot of these things where I was helping then pass the responsibility back onto the budget owner or the sales channel leader to own their respective P&Ls or expenses.
Great. Now it sounds like you really had a fair amount of free reign and the leadership allowed you to just come in and do what needed to be done. I mean I'm sure there's always some pushback, but I appreciate that. So as you look back at your career, gonna ask one more question related to career here. This is one we've started asking people, it's always interesting to see is what's one of the biggest career failures? And I use that term loosely cause I think those are learning experiences that you have had maybe an analysis that went wrong, budget that fell apart. And what did you learn from that experience? What was the takeaway?
Absolutely. I think the one thing I can point back to is was during a budget cycle, missing a key vendor and a vendor worth about $750K per year cost to Skullcandy at the time. And that was NPD group. So obviously that number is a guess, but it was a massive miss on the budget side. I think it was one fourth of that team's budget or so. And both the budget owner and myself, we missed it, I missed it in plan. Of course that subscription's not going away so you had to get it back into plan and then analyze the budget to go pull some stuff outta that. So some incredibly hard conversations that had to happen, both the ownership of the mistake, that's part of the reconciliation of look, we missed this, let's pass that up to chain of command. And then being solution oriented I think rather than just hide in my cave and wait until somebody notices, being proactive on that issue is what I took away most from that experience is that people mess up, people make mistakes, it's a guarantee that it's gonna. I think it's just being proactive with communicating it and giving yourself as much time as possible to adapt to that change, whatever it may be. So you have as many leverages as possible in your pocket rather than waiting. That's probably the biggest takeaway I learned from that particular experience.
I would agree mean you needed to be proactive in own it. I still remember one time and I didn't know what was going on, I figured it out, but I had a new boss and he was asking about something in the P&L that made no sense and the guy kept dancing around it giving all these crazy answers and I come to find out he didn't wanna admit something was missed cause he was worried about some people getting in trouble. And I just turned to him when I figured out, I'm like, just own it. Just tell him what's going on. Let's just move on. We'll figure it out and finally say yeah, this is what happened. And the guy literally wasn't upset, he was more upset that they danced around it and wouldn't give him a straight answer and was just totally confused. And it was a good reminder to me when a mistake happens, just own it. Say what happened and move on. Take ownership for your part, don't throw people under the bus. We've all seen that. Take ownership but just own it and move on best you can agree more.
So I think that's a great learning experience. I've had some of those as well. I think anyone who's been in budget long enough has had those type of mistakes where you're like, I missed that. I mean we had one year where we messed up to seasonality and we were off by a couple million dollars because we thought we were taking it off a low quarter with a certain number of weeks and it turned out it was the high quarter. And so we built the whole year off that high quarter and it was really, it was wrong and that was not a fun one to explain. So I can relate. I've been there. I think we all have. So this is a little bit more of a personal question as we come close to the end of our time here and we like to ask everybody this. So this is a standard question we ask, what is something unique about you that you can share with our audience? So something they wouldn't find out online?
I think we mentioned earlier, I'm a really avid golfer, so I've taken a backseat a little bit on the golf course as I focused on my family and career. But really the more unique part and success story of my golfing career is that I've got two hole in ones so far in my lifetime. Nice. And the unique part about it, obviously using a hole in one is really rare, but it was with the exact same club and pretty much the exact same distance. So the club being a seven iron and the distance being about 175 yards.
Nice. And so speaking of golf, what's your best score?
My best score is down at San Hollow Resort there outside of St. George and it's 200 par.
Nice. Yeah, good score. Anything under par is a great score. So congrats. Thanks. All right. So next question here, we'd like to ask everyone this and it's fun to see people's different answers, right? In FP&A we all use Excel or we all have. And so what we like to ask is, what is your favorite can be Excel formula kind of function feature? What is it you like most about Excel?
Yeah, absolutely. A lot of ways to go with this question. I think just the general favorite Excel formula involves like a nest ASIF statement. Leveraging index and max choosing match are also super important for the day to day functions. But Paul, I think there's nothing more satisfying to me than a longer iIF statement that has multiple drivers and you hit enter and it works exactly as you spec. I think a good example for Cotopaxi is are retail stores. So the retail rent has so many different variations. It can be a percentage of revenue, it can be a base has CAM and taxes and a lot of different components to it. There can be a break even formula as well. So nailing that if statement that has multiple components of it, I think is my favorite Excel formula.
Yeah, when a formula goes right, that's complex it always feels good. I can appreciate that. Mention index match, obviously we use those all the time and those are some great things as well. So that's good. I'm glad that you've got 'them to work for you. Cause I've had a few that have taken some time
<laugh>. I know exactly what you mean there. Yeah, it takes half an hour at least at times.
Yes, I remember I used to do coding my first job out of MBA and it's a lot of SQL and you're spending it half a day trying to find the error of like, okay, why? And it's always something simple. So as you look atFP&A, you look at how it's changed over your career, you know, look at all the uncertainty we have in the world today and just more and more data things constantly changing. What do you see as the biggest challenge for FP&A and then what do you see as the biggest opportunity for the profession going forward?
Yeah, absolutely. I think the biggest challenge, and maybe I've mentioned this once or twice, but it's being a valuable team member in any type of decision-making process. So not getting siloed on that finance or accounting team. It's branching out even further. So helping marketing evaluate product colabs or helping the product team understand returns and driving insights there and being a valuable team member, both in the analysis side but also forward looking of how do you project those risks to the overall business and be a part of the overall company. Not necessarily just the FP&A team, the finance team being a member there, but expanding that reach. I think that's gotta be the biggest challenge for an FP&A professional going forward.
That makes a lot of sense. Expanding that reach and getting that seat at the table, being a part of the decision so you can create value. What do you see as the biggest opportunity?
Yeah, I think similar vein, right is branching outside of finance for me in particular was learning all aspects of the business forCotopaxi. So our omichannel approach that I mentioned, obviously getting a little more familiar with the e-commerce conversion metrics and acquisition costs and all that stuff. Being willing to dive outside of just financial data, the P&L, the three statements. I think that's the big opportunity where you can tailor your skill set to apply for your overall career going forward.
Okay, great. No, I appreciate that. So last question here for you and then we'll wrap up. What advice would you offer to someone starting their career today? Who wants to work in FP&A?
Yeah, absolutely. I think just being willing to reach out and have that FP&A mindset. So even if you're on an accounting team or just a finance role, being willing to have that forward looking mindset, that growth mindset. Understanding the challenges in FP&A team, right, is we're trying to project cash on a forward looking basis and risks to the business. You can take that approach in really any role you're at today and start to branch out to folks in the company who you see have influence on that and have key metrics they're tracking and try to understand the best you can. So that that's overall my advice for somebody who wants to work in FP&A. You're not gonna necessarily get an FP&A a role out of the shoot. It could be a basic AR AP analyst level role. But I think having that mindset showing that you have the broader horizon, that mindset is gonna help you get a career in FP&A.
That makes a lot of sense. And I agree a lot of people may not start their career in FP&A. You may start out, like I said, AR or other areas of the business within finance and work your way up and learn the ropes. So having that right mindset to help you learn, I think is critical. Well Cole, we appreciate having you on the show today. We appreciate learning a little bit more about COTOPAXI and some of your experience in the outdoor retail industry and working for a B certified corporation. I think you're the first one we've had on in the outdoor that primarily has been in the outdoor industry and also has worked for Corp B. So we appreciate you sharing a little bit of that experience and thanks again for being on the show.
Thank you Paul. I really enjoyed it.
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The foot and ankle contains a total of 26 bones. Any one of the bones can become fractured as a result of injury. Tendons are the connective tissue that connects bones to each other and holds them together. When these become strained or torn, often as a result of being hit or twisted, the result is a sprain. If a ligament is completely torn, sometime a pop is heard or felt.
Fractures can be diagnosed with the use of an X-ray, or other imaging such as a CAT scan or MRI. Sprains are often diagnosed on the basis of the type of injury and where the pain and tenderness is. Sometimes an MRI can help diagnose a specific sprain.
The initial treatment of either a sprain or a fracture includes rest, elevation and ice. It is important to keep weight off of the affected foot or ankle. In some cases a cast or splint is applied to minimize motion so that the foot or ankle can heal properly. In other cases surgery may be needed to repair a ligament or to stabilize a fracture.
If the support of the foot is compromised, then permanent damage may result. If the tissues do not heal properly then pain may progress and not go away.


Future retail located along the recently widened State Highway 78 and just north of PGBT. A left turn is positioned at the main access point into the site for traffic headed southbound on 78. This site sits across the street from a new Walmart and LA Fitness with both Lidl and Specs to join the intersection.


The Lanai @ Ala Moana is a spectacular new dining idea that will function specialty meals vendors. With a seating capacity of up to 450, customers can have the choice to dine al fresco beneath elegant pageant lighting or inside an elegant eating corridor. Stay tuned for extra details.


text:
DHL eCommerce investing $300 million in USA facilities
By: Transglobal Express
Category: DHL
DHL eCommerce Solutions, the US arm of Deutsche Post DHL Group, is to invest $300 million in its US facilities over the next five years.
Improvements will include facility expansions, adding more than 70% to the company's square footage, as well as the automation of distribution centres and upgrades of IT systems.
The company is also adding dedicated export gateways for international shipments to Carteret in New Jersey, Franklin Park in Illinois, and Whittier in California.
The Whittier centre opened in 2020 and expanded in August 2021 by 100,000 sq ft. It serves as DHL eCommerce's West Coast gateway.
The 69,000 sq ft Franklin Park gateway for the Midwest opened in July, while the 50,000 sq ft Carteret gateway for the Northeast is due to open this month.
All three facilities are for international shipments and the company will continue to process domestic parcels at other facilities.
DHL eCommerce currently has 19 distribution centres across the US.
With more efficient automation and greater network coverage, the company hopes for quicker deliveries and the capacity to meet future demands for e-commerce.
Source: DHL


Oxford take off in French / Marie-Thérèse Bougard.
Edition: 3rd ed.Material type: Book; Literary form: Not fiction ; Audience: Specialized; Publisher: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008Other title: Take off in French.Availability: Items available for loan: [Call number: 448.3421 BOU] (7).
Oxford Take off in Spanish / Rosa María Martín.
Edition: 3rd ed.Material type: Book; Literary form: Not fiction ; Audience: Specialized; Publisher: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008Other title: Take off in Spanish.Availability: Items available for loan: [Call number: 468.3421 MAR] (6).
Oxford take off in German / Heike Schommartz and Andrea Reitz.
by Schommartz, Heike | Reitz, Andrea.
Edition: 2nd ed.Material type: Book; Literary form: Not fiction ; Audience: Specialized; Publisher: Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2008Other title: Take off in German.Availability: Items available for loan: [Call number: 438.2421 SCH] (5).


In the summer of 2014, the IRS released a document known as the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. The IRS aggregated all of the rights that taxpayers are afforded under the tax code into this one document so that they could be more easily accessed and referenced. While this information has always been available, releasing the summarized list was a necessary step in informing the public of their rights.
To develop the list, the IRS consulted with the Taxpayer Advocate Service, which is an organization that provides support to taxpayers who believe they are being treated unfairly by the IRS. From these consultations, the IRS discovered that, generally, taxpayers were ignorant of what their rights were – and many were unaware they had rights at all. The Taxpayer Bill of Rights was well-received, and less than two years after its release, Congress wrote the Taxpayer Bill of Rights into the Internal Revenue Code. It is now required that all IRS employees be familiar with the Bill of Rights and act in accordance with the document during their interactions with taxpayers.
The Taxpayer Bill of Rights divided the taxpayers' rights into 10 broad categories, which we will discuss below.
The first permission afforded to taxpayers is, simply stated, the right to know what it is they need to know. They can expect easy-to-understand forms and instructions, clear-cut notices with explanations as necessary, and the distinct knowledge of where they can go if they need assistance.
Taxpayers can expect courteous and professional assistance from IRS employees and should only be contacted within reasonable hours and with non-threatening language. In all interactions, IRS employees should provide their unique identification number so that taxpayers have a record of who helped them.
Taxpayers will never be expected to pay more than they are legally required to pay, and any errors detected in a notice or letter of adjustment can be rectified within a reasonable time frame.
Taxpayers are afforded the ability to object to an IRS determination or adjustment. The time period within which taxpayers can contest a deficiency notice will be clearly stated on the correspondence, and if the IRS disagrees with the objection, taxpayers can petition the U.S. Tax Court or ask the Taxpayer Advocate Service to assist them.
Taxpayers can challenge IRS decisions in the impartial IRS Office of Appeals, and they will always have the right to take their case to court before paying the tax on the proposed adjustment.
The Internal Revenue Code lists timelines for when taxpayers can file a refund claim, for when a notice must be addressed, and for when the IRS can audit taxpayers or make adjustments to their accounts. These deadlines will be made clear to the taxpayers on any and all correspondence that they receive. Once those deadlines have passed, taxpayers can be certain that the issues are finalized.
The IRS will only act in a way that can guarantee basic privacy to taxpayers. All enforcement actions must comply with the law, and the IRS will not be more intrusive than is necessary. Only relevant information will be collected during an audit.
Taxpayers can rest assured that the IRS will protect their personal information and uphold their confidences. Additionally, taxpayers can seek criminal prosecution for tax return preparers who disclose their information to inappropriate parties.
Taxpayers have the right to use a third party to represent them in dealings with the IRS. If they cannot afford representation, they can seek support from an independent Low Income Taxpayer Clinic. Representatives can be anybody, but they are often attorneys, CPAs, or enrolled agents.
When assessing a deficiency, the IRS will consider the taxpayers' abilities to pay and will work closely with taxpayers to find solutions that are reasonable. They may agree to settle the debt for less than what was owed, or they may agree to enter into a monthly payment plan. All assessments levied on taxpayers will be sensible and will consider their life circumstances.
While the IRS's Taxpayer Bill of Rights was only recently released, many states have been providing similar documents to their taxpayers for decades. For example, the California Taxpayers' Bill of Rights was enacted in 1988 and it continues to serve California taxpayers to this day.
If you have a question about your rights as a taxpayer, contact your WNDE tax professional.


text:
« Would They Love Me Anyway?
My Guiltiest Pleasures »
Teach A Man* To Fish …
We've all heard the following verse: Give a man a fish, and he'll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for life. We are living in times wherein those who can are supporting both sides of the verse to assure that people are strong in the short term and to teach them to flourish in the long term.
The world is a challenging place, and – thankfully – there are many terrific organizations that work to help more than 925 million people (according to the WFP) meet their critical day-to-day needs. Where would we be – as a global community – without the local work of Operation Food Search and Food Outreach, and the global work of groups like UNICEF and the World Food Programme (WFP)?
Long-term success in the war against poverty and hunger likely happens a little bit differently. That's why I've asked my friend and mentor, Chuck Hirsch**, to be a guest contributor. Chuck is a member of the development board of a St. Louis-based organization that works to empower those who can change the future's course. His insight and passion for this effort perhaps will inspire each of us to get involved with movements that touch our hearts and appeal to our sensibilities.
So please, check out Chuck's blog entry – Fasting for Africa – and imagine how many more will eat when more people have the opportunity to fish. That's what it's all about at Eat It, St. Louis!
Fasting for Africa
It's been a few years since I last traveled to South Africa, but I still clearly remember the combination of anxiety and eagerness I felt during the weeks leading up to my visits. Each and every time, I was anxious about the differences – the exotic food; the diseases that are too common there and unheard of here; the sadness of the shanty towns that line the highway between the Cape Town airport contrasting with the modern downtown hotels; and the mysteries and dangers of the "bush," where we would get within a few short yards of lions, leopards, Cape buffalo, rhinos, elephants, hyenas, jackals, and more. And I was eager to see once again some very wonderful people – both old friends with whom I worked and new friends who always seemed eager to welcome and embrace visitors to their beautiful country.
I think about those wonderful people a lot when my wife Becky and I fast for Africa.
Becky and I are both members of the development board for MicroFinancing Partners in Africa (MPA). This is an international organization headquartered in St. Louis, founded and directed by Sister Toni Temporiti. Sister Toni's clear and well-focused vision for her organization is "the eradication of extreme poverty in African communities through microfinancing."
In the slum of Mathare in Nairobi, Kenya, MPA founder and president Sister Toni Temporiti and executive director Heather Cammarata meet with Lucy, one of the original 50 street beggars who helped found one of MPA's partner organizations, Jamii Bora. With a small loan from Jamii Bora, Lucy started a business selling porridge and worked her own way up to providing her family with a modest home, regular meals, and an education.(Photo courtesy of Heather Cammarata)
Microfinancing is an economic concept that is essentially built upon providing very small loans to people who run very small business operations. MPA generates funds that are then provided to a number of different microfinancing projects – including a soy milk project in Tanzania, small business groups in poverty-ravaged areas of Kenya, and family dairy operations in Uganda. (You can learn lots more about these projects at MPA's Web site.)
The common theme that ties all of MPA's partners together is expressed well through the MPA value statement: "People have the right, the will and the capacity to direct their own future."
I suppose it's the "business person" in me that finds MPA's approach to helping people so appealing. This is an organization made up of people who truly want to help others, while fully understanding that the best way to help people is to give them a real opportunity to help themselves. These monies that MPA provides are loans, and with all the organizations with which MPA affiliates itself, the requirements for those who want to participate in the programs are well thought out and demanding. Those who receive microfinancing support must have a business plan; they must work with others in developing and executing the plan; they must develop the discipline to stick with the plan; and they must ultimately be responsible to themselves, their families, and their business partners in repaying their loans. With that approach, I believe, the dignity of the person is honored, true life lessons can be learned, and true change can take place.
Polina, a member of the Bukoba Women's Empowerment Association in Bukoba, Tanzania, demonstrates how tasty the soy milk is that is made as a part of the group's income-generating activity, harvesting soy beans and converting them to soy flour and milk. (Photo courtesy of Heather Cammarata)
MPA and its partners are made up of a lot of people who share that belief in the value of microfinancing as a great way to honor people while attacking the problem of poverty, and I think a lot about all of the members of the MPA team when my wife Becky and I fast for Africa.
The fast itself is one of the tools we use to raise money for MPA. This year, we'll be fasting 36 hours. The fast starts at 9 p.m. on Thursday, October 20, 2011, and ends at 9 a.m. on Saturday, October 22, 2011. Those of us who fast ask family and friends to support us with a donation to MPA, and if you're so inclined to help out, you can do that through the MPA Web site as well.
Obviously, fasting for 36 hours is not a huge deal, especially when one considers our standard of living in contrast with the poverty and hunger that so many of our African brothers and sisters deal with every single day of their lives. Becky and I have found, though, that even though it is not a huge deal, it is indeed a big enough deal – and a discomfort of large enough proportions – to help us put our own lives and the way we spend our time in a little bit clearer perspective. It helps us see the world and feel the world from the point of view of those people we are hoping to help, and it helps reminds us of how blessed we are. We both believe that with great blessing comes great responsibility, and feeling a few hours of the hunger that so much of the world lives with every single second of their lives is a good reminder of how important it is to help how and where we can.
Noline, a farmer in the Cow Project in Masaka, Uganda, who has just installed the biofuel system at her farm, shows how much her cow enjoys the caliendra grass. With the biofuel to operate a hotplate and a light inside the home, Noline says that she appreciates being able to feed her children something warm before sending them to school. (Photo courtesy of Heather Cammerata.)
Of course, there is plenty of poverty here in the United States and there are plenty of good causes that need good people to support them. And believe me, I commend all who are doing charitable work. It's hard for me to explain exactly why I find MPA's work in Africa appealing enough for me to work and fast to support its efforts. No doubt it's because I've been there and seen first-hand the kind of poverty MPA is working to eliminate. No doubt it's also because I love the part of Africa I visited and was charmed by the life-loving people I met. And no doubt it's my practical side that says the right approach to helping people is to help them help themselves.
But there's one thing more.
Becky and I have four young-adult children who are inheriting a world that is much smaller in so many ways than the world we were in as we began our married lives. Call it "post 9/11" or whatever you would like, but these days there is little doubt that whatever happens across the globe affects our personal lives here in the Midwest more quickly and more dramatically than ever before. In short, our neighborhood has expanded, and so our responsibility to be good neighbors to all those around us has just been scaled up.
I have to laugh at myself as I share all these feelings about MPA and the reasons I fast. I laugh because it's pretty typically "American" — long-winded and full of introspection.
To illustrate how an African might sum up the same feelings in a more succinct African manner, I want to share one final note. After one of our trips to South Africa, Becky and I were at the Johannesburg airport and found a card that captured in a few short lines a great deal of the emotion we'd felt on this beautiful trip. We bought the card, brought it home, and framed it. It now has a prominent place on the wall of our breakfast room, and the sentiment sums up well why we believe so strongly in MPA and the fast for Africa that supports it:
"Animals with spots and stripes and horns and big teeth . . . all together in the sun and in the rain . . ."
*Man, in this context, is all humanity. As you've read, women are pretty good at catching fish.
**Chuck Hirsch is an experienced publishing professional, with a long career in business-to-business media. He is the president of Hirsch Communications Consulting, LLC, which provides consulting services to the life, health, and financial services business. Chuck's firm specializes in helping companies and wholesale organizations in these businesses better attract and communicate with the independent producers they want and need as their representatives. In addition, he is Contributing Editor and writes a monthly article for one of the nation's leading business-to-business magazines for financial services professionals.
Tags Africa, Chuck Hirsch, Food Outreach, Hirsch Communications Consulting, Hunger, LLC, MicroFinancing Partners in Africa, Microloans, Operation Food Search, poverty, Sister Toni Temporiti, St. Louis, UNICEF, World Food Programme
Categories Opinion
Nile says:
For me, I love to hear on people addressing real issues and trying to bring it to the world. Fasting 36 hours for someone in the Western world is pretty hard and I cannot imagine doing it myself as I already get really hungry after 8 hours. For my son, we take him to other countries from time to time. He already has an awareness for other cultures.
We need more organizations that help others eventually be able to help themselves… not just in other countries, but even at home in the US.
Amy Burdge says:
It's hard to be hungry. How can anyone focus on moving forward when the simple basic human needs can't be met? I admire Chuck and his wife for their work, and I am humbled at the thought of compassionate, smart people like Sister Toni who strike out to make a difference.
Thank you so much for reading! I appreciate it.


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text:
The Dioxin affair was a political crisis that struck in Belgium during the spring of 1999.
Contamination of feedstock with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) was detected in animal food products, mainly eggs and chickens.
Although health inspectors reported the problem in January, measurements were taken only from May 1999 when the media revealed the case. The then Flemish Liberals and Democrats (VLD) opposition leader Guy Verhofstadt claimed that the government was trying to cover up the so-called "nota Destickere", which proved that several secretaries of state were informed much earlier that the food contained PCBs and dioxins.

Political scandal

The Dioxin Affair started with some complaints from chicken farmers who noticed increased death among newborn chickens. Laboratory analysis confirmed the presence of dioxin-like toxins well above normal limits in the eggs, tissues and feed of the affected birds. It was later confirmed that the dioxin-like toxicity was a result of the presence of PCBs, many of which form part of the group of dioxins and dioxin-like compounds which have toxic properties, in the birds' feed.

, Minister of Agriculture, and , Minister of Health, immediately resigned their positions and a commission was installed to investigate the probable sources of contamination and the errors that had been made by the government. Later investigations revealed that the source of the contamination came from an oil-and-fat-recycling company, Verkest, from Deinze. The fats were reprocessed into animal feed that also contained transformer oil (coolant fluid), a known source of PCBs.

Public concern about the quality of animal food in general became a hot issue in the media. This forced the commission to ban certain recycling streams (like frying oil) from entering the food chain in order to prevent future contamination. Later studies indicated that there was never a serious danger to human health because the contaminated material was largely diluted during the production of the animal feed. Seven million chickens and fifty thousand pigs were slaughtered and discarded.

Many farms were closed down for months and animal food products were banned from the market. During the investigation, questions were raised as to whether the costs for destroying the food and feedstock were necessary, as it seemed obvious that the contaminated food had already passed through the food market during the period from January to May. To protect the farmers, the Belgian government promised to compensate them for their losses.  The crisis also damaged the export of Belgian animal products. Many Belgians went shopping for meat and dairy products in foreign countries. The total costs of the food crisis are estimated at 25 billion francs, or 625 million Euros.

Political implications
The dioxin crisis strongly influenced the federal elections of 1999 (as well as the regional elections of 1999). The governing party, Christian People's Party (CVP), suffered a historic loss and forced the end of premier Jean-Luc Dehaene's eight-year reign. This meant a victory for the VLD and Guy Verhofstadt, who had brought the affair to public attention in the first place, resulting in him becoming Prime Minister of Belgium until 2007. Green parties Ecolo and Agalev were also able to profit from the public concern around environment and food quality.

Health implications
In 2001, a public report announced that high dioxin levels were detected in Belgians' blood plasma compared to other European populations. A direct link to the dioxin crisis seemed obvious. Later comparison with blood samples that were taken before the crisis disproved this hypothesis. High levels could also be attributed to the dense populations and industry.

See also
Dioxin controversy
Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain

References

External links
 Review on Belgium dioxin crisis of 1999

Government crises
Political scandals in Belgium
20th-century scandals
Environment of Belgium
Dioxins
1999 in Belgium
1999 in the environment
1999 health disasters

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Exposing your loathsome self, Life does not forgive weakness.
I Am the psychic truth, I Was There when Satan wept.
write me if you saw any issue in my added lyrics and/or translation.
Feel free to copy and reuse the translations. Those lyrics are not mine after all.
ترجمات أخرى للأغنية "You Must Fall"
My goal is to expand the archive of black metal lyrics here and gather all the translations in one place so it is more accessible.


Handel's Messiah is always big this time of the year and choirs around the archdiocese are probably working on "For Unto Us a Child is Born" and the "Hallelujah Chorus" for Christmas.
Here's what can happen when the organist accidentally hits the transpose button at a most unfortunate moment.
By the way, Ed Polochick and The Concert of Artists of Baltimore will perform a much better version next Friday at the Meyerhoff in Baltimore. Their performances are outstanding. You won't want to miss it.


text:
Mala ušara (lat. Asio otus) je vrsta ptica koja pripada redu sova te obitelji pravih sova. Ova vrsta živi na prostoru Europe, Azije, Sjeverne Amerike i Afrike. Malu ušaru je 1758. godine prvi put opisao švedski prirodoslovac Carl Linne.

Izgled
Mala ušara spada u sove srednje veličine. Dužina tijela kod ove vrste se kreće između 31 i 40 centimetara, a raspon krila od 85 do 100 cm. Uglavnom nisu masivnije od 350 gramа. Ženke su malo veće od mužjaka. Prosječna masa je kod mužjaka 259 g dok je kod ženki 282 g.

Prepoznatljive su po tome što na vrhu glave imaju "uške" - uzdignuto perje koje podsjeća na uši, a po tome su i dobile naziv. Imaju crn kljun, a oči su im narančasto-crvenkaste boje. Noge su im prekrivene paperjem.

Mlade ptice imaju vrlo prodoran glas i može se čuti i na udaljenosti od preko 2 kilometra. Ne grade gnijezda već od drugih ptica preotimaju već napravljena gnijezda. Najčešće se gnijezde na četinjačama, posebno onima s gustom krošnjom. Ženka u prosjeku polaže od 3-5 jaja u razmacima od po 2 dana. Ženke polažu jaja od polovine ožujka do kraja travnja. U godinama kada imaju izobilje hrane ove sove na svijet donose veći broj mladunaca ili se gnijezde 2 puta. Mladi se izliježu iz jaja nakon 28 dana, a iz gnijezda izlaze nakon 25 dana ležanja. Kada napune 7 tjedana potpuno su sposobni letjeti, međutim s roditeljima ostaju još oko dva mjeseca, a potom se potpuno osamostale. Najčešće se hrane sitnim glodavcima, a aktivne su noću. Preko dana sjedi skrivena u krošnji drveća.

Rasporstranjenost

Male ušare žive u središnjem dijelu Sjeverne Amerike, sjevernoj Africi ,većem dijelu Europe i Azije. Populacije ove vrste se u sjevernim i hladnijim krajevima djelomično sele zbog nedostatka hrane, dok se u toplijim krajevima redovito skupljaju u zimska jata. Zimska jata se često nalaze u naseljenim mjestima, a broj jedinki u njima se kreće od nekoliko do više stotina ptica. Male ušare najčešće nastanjuju otvorene terene uz rubove šuma, drvorede, parkove, voćnjake i manje grupe drveća.

Prehrana
Male ušare su grabljivice koje plijen love noću. Najčešće love plijen u niskom letu, na rubovima šuma ili uz živice. Najčešće se hrane sitnim sisavcima poput poljskih miševa i voluharice. Vrlo rijetko se hrani ostalim glodavcima, sitnijim pticama, insektima i žabama. Ovi glodavci kojima se hrane predstavljaju po ljude štetne vrste tako da ove sove imaju i pozitivan gospodarski značaj za ljude.

Zaštita
Male ušare se u mnogim dijelovima svijeta zaštićene zakonom. Veliki problem za Male ušare je narušavanje njihovih prirodnih staništa, i nestajanje mjesta gdje se mogu gnijezditi, kao i mjesta gdje love. Često stradaju i na cestama u sudarima s vozilima. Pošto se nalaze u neposrednoj blizini ljudi ove sove se često uznemiravaju. U velikom dijelu Europe brojnost ovih sova je u stalnom padu.

Podvrste
Postoje 4 podvrste malih ušara:

 A. otus otus - nastanjuje Europu, sjeverozapadnu Afriku i Aziju
 A. otus canariensis - nastanjuje Kanarske otoke
 A. otus Tufts - nastanjuje zapadni dio Sjeverne Amerike
 A. otus wilsonianus - nastanjuje istočni dio Sjeverne Amerike

Izvori

sove