I just came back from a business trip in Apulia, Puglia for Italians, and was pleasantly surprised of what I discovered despite being born only a few hundred kilometres away. I never thought Apulia had so many interesting producers and products, fantastic, passionate people with great products.
Apulia is often associated with olive oil and wine but I also discovered great bakeries and pasta makers, buffalo mozzarella producers, it was an eye opening trip about a very little known region, at least for me.
I had different meetings and we are working on bringing some of the products I tasted back in the UK, however, what really surprised me was the idea of the UK market and importers these producers had.
Their previous experiences, approaches, from the UK were all price driven, every request they received was about being able to supply at a certain price, with no interest about the quality of their products, for that reason, they never supplied the UK and did not have a good reputation of the UK market.
This opinion wasn't just shared by small producers but also medium and big ones, producers that have pride in their products and believed in them, producers that have principles, producers that are not prepared to compromise on quality, producers that had, before we came along, given up on one of the biggest market outside Italy.
We read every day about the price war going on between the main supermarkets and we all seem to enjoy the low prices, but we dont see what happens behind the scene, the impact this war is having on producers all over the world, not just Apulia or Italy, that are seeing their margins getting squeezes to almost zero and pushed out of business and our food becoming more and more industrial, with producers being forced to compromise on quality to be able to supply at the asked prices.
We dont seem to see or simply ignore, the impact of what we eat and drink on our body, on our well being, our mind, we seem to be happy when we can save a few pounds but we dont realise that not only we are accomplices in pushing these producers out of business but we are not doing any good to ourselves. Good, natural, healthy ingredients are being replaced with cheaper and industrial versions creating plenty of problems, from obesity being the most immediate and the first that comes to mind, to diabetes.
When buying for our pets we read the labels, the ingredients, we spend time and money, we want to know what we are giving them, when buying our own food the main driver seems to be the price, the offer, the deal, we never check the ingredients or ask ourselves whether these are the things we want to put inside our body. We spend more for a litre of engine oil for our car than for a bottle of olive oil that fuels us, our own engine and cant be replaced like a car.


text:
← Science museum bans DNA genius at centre of race row | FTR #614 Oleaginous Diplomacy – "Who Still Talks Nowadays of the Extermination of the Armenians?" →
Strategies of Attrition (IV)
Posted by FTR ⋅ October 22, 2007Post a comment Email This Post Print This Post Tweet This!
Tags Bush, CIA, Dalai Lama, Fifth Column, Iran, Iraq, UNPO
GermanForeignPolicy.com
[See also Strategies of Attrition (I), Strategies of Attrition (II) and Strategies of Attrition (III).]
BERLIN/URUMQI/MUNICH/BEIJING
(Own report) – German foreign policy makers, are upping their political pressure on Beijing, and holding talks with a Chinese separatist. As the Munich based "World Uyghur Congress (WUC)" announced, its president, Rebiya Kadeer will also be received by the foreign ministry. The Uyghurs, a Muslim minority from the autonomous region Xinjiang (Western China), are seeking the secession of their region "East Turkestan" from the People's Republic of China. Rebiya Kadeer's appearance in the German capital has been carefully stage managed for high profile in conjunction with US activities. Following the Dalai Lama's German Chancellery visit, Berlin has been escalating its anti-Beijing secessionist offensive. For decades, Germany – including foreign intelligence circles – has been cultivating relations to Uyghur exile politicians.
Rebiya Kadeer is visiting Berlin shortly after the Dalai Lama ended his European tour that provoked strong protest from Beijing. In September, the head of the self proclaimed Tibetan exile government visited the Spanish province Catalonia that, after having gained extensive autonomy rights, is seeking secession.[1] He continued his trip to Portugal and Austria, meeting with the head of the Viennese government. In Berlin, the would-be god king was received for the first time by the German Chancellery. Shortly thereafter, the US government created another precedent: in a public ceremony, President Bush presented the Dalai Lama the Congressional Medal of Honor, the highest civilian award bestowed by American lawmakers. Now it is Rebiya Kadeer, who is making a tour. Coming from the USA, where she lives in exile, her first stop-over was London, where she had talks with MPs, representatives of the foreign ministry and members of the government. She then proceeded to Berlin, where she is at present.
Current transatlantic activities promoting anti-Chinese separatism and weakening Beijing, are based on decades of German-US cooperation. Erkin Alptekin, a Uyghur living in exile, is one of the protagonists. His father, Yusuf Alptekin had already participated in the 1930s secessionist movement in Western China. From 1933 – 1934 he was General Secretary of the provisional government of the "Turkish Islamic Republic East Turkestan". The Uyghurs are still calling the region they inhabit in the People's Republic of China, "East Turkestan", because they consider themselves to be of ethnic Turkish descent. Some of them are striving for a pan-Turkish federation combining regions in Central Asia with Turkey. After finishing his studies in Istanbul, Erkin Alptekin, whose family is held in high esteem in Uyghur circles, moved to Munich in 1971, where he became "Senior Policy Advisor" to the director of the US station "Radio Liberty".[2]
It was at that time, that the CIA began to establish contacts to Uyghurs seeking secession. "Some, like Erkin Alptekin, who have worked for the CIA's Radio Liberty, are – in the meantime – on the forefront of the secessionist movement" writes analyst B. Raman, the former Indian government's cabinet secretary.[3] In Munich, Alptekin founded the "East Turkestan Union in Europe" in 1991 and in April 2004 the "World Uyghur Congress" and was named its founding president. From German territory, the congress is steering numerous Uyghur exile organizations around the world, of which some must be classified as being in the terrorist milieu, according to Chinese government information.[4]
The Munich based exile movement seeks to merge the Uyghur secessionist movement with the Tibetan and the Mongolian movements, to break up the Chinese nation from several of its peripheral regions. In 1985, former CIA advisor Alptekin participated in the foundation of the "Allied Committee of the Peoples of East Turkestan, Tibet and Inner Mongolia". He supported in 1998, an international conference in New York, organized by this Committee, where representatives of the US government were in attendance. The strategy of ethnic movements is shared by the Dalai Lama. In his message of greetings to the conference in New York, he wrote: "Geography, history and currently Chinese occupation is connecting our three peoples. I remain optimistic that the true aspirations of the peoples of East Turkestan, Inner Mongolia and Tibet will be fulfilled in a not too distant future."[5]
Rebiya Kadeer, currently in Berlin for political consultations, is continuing Alptekin's activities – and is also receiving German-US American support. At the end of the 1990s, Rebiya Kadeer, – at the time the wealthiest business woman in the People's Republic – ran into conflict with Beijing, because of her separatist activities, provoking her arrest. Through pressure from the US, she was able to leave China for the United States in March 2005, where she joined her husband. He is still working for Radio Free Asia, the Asian counterpart to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, also said to have close links to the CIA. Rebiya Kadeer has been systematically groomed as the unifying representative of the Uyghures. She has been nominated several times a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. A Bertelsmann Corporation publishing house recently published her biography – in German. The book has been receiving wide acclaim in the German media. In June 2007, shortly after her audience with US President Bush, it was presented at the Federal Press Conference in Berlin with interested Green parliamentarians in attendance.
Escalating
Rebiya Kadeer visited Berlin for the first time in November 2006, during her trip to Germany to be elected president of the "World Uyghur Congress" in Munich. Her current Berlin visit follows on the heels of a resolution passed by the US Congress, calling for Beijing to grant Uyghurs new rights of autonomy and to liberate incarcerated separatists, including two of Rebiya Kadeer's sons. She will be received not only by the German Foreign Ministry, but will also have consultations with the Federal Parliament's Human Rights Commission as well as with representatives of party affiliated Foundations. This clearly shows that Berlin is escalating its Uyghur policy.
Petra Kelly Prize
This is being aided by the "Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO)" founded at the beginning of 1991 and based in The Hague. The Dalai Lama and the Uyghur secessionist Alptekin are among the co-founders. 69 "nations" are currently members of this organization, including "East Turkestan", Tibet and Inner Mongolia. The organization is demanding the "right of self-determination" for these regions of sovereign nations. In the meantime, six former UNPO members, among them Estonia, Latvia and Georgia have obtained the statehood, they had been demanding. The UNPO has a "coordination office" in Washington and has several "peoples" in reserve for use in the political strategies of Western powers. Among the UNPO members are Kurdish separatis
ts from Iraq and Iran as well as secessionists form Serbia (Kosovo), who have long since been brought into position against their central governments, but also collectives in Russia and Myanmar seeking autonomy, who can be deployed whenever it becomes politically feasible.
The UNPO was honored with the "Petra Kelly Prize" by the German, Green Party affiliated, Heinrich Boell Foundation.
Please read also: Strategies of Attrition (I), Strategies of Attrition (II) and Strategies of Attrition (III)).
[1] see also Language Struggle and Ethnic Europe
[2] Erkin Alptekin; www.tibet10march.net/web/redner_alptekin.htm
[3] B. Raman: US and Terrorism in Xinjiang; South Asia Analysis Group, Paper No. 499, 24.07.2002
[4] China Seeks Int'l Support In Counter-Terrorism; People's Daily Online 16.12.2003
No comments for "Strategies of Attrition (IV)"
FTR BACK STORY
Even MORE Fun With Science: Earthquake Weaponry FTR #69: Tesla technology used by U.S. and U.S.S.R. to alter the weather and cause earthquakes. Read more »

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Debate: Michigan and Florida delegates in 2008 US elections
Revision as of 14:55, 12 March 2008 (edit)
(→Write Subquestion here...)
← Previous diff Revision as of 14:59, 12 March 2008 (edit)
(→Yes)
*'''Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, said on a re-vote.''' "It's comprehensive. You get to vote if you're in Iraq or in a nursing home. It's not a bad way to do this."[http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080310.htm] *'''Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, said on a re-vote.''' "It's comprehensive. You get to vote if you're in Iraq or in a nursing home. It's not a bad way to do this."[http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/bulletin/bulletin_080310.htm]
+ *[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB120511091027123403.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D). "Florida Deserves a Revote". March 10, 2008] - "With so much at stake, and the race so close, it's apparent to me that a new election in Florida is a fair way to provide both candidates with another chance to win needed delegates in a state that is certain to be pivotal in November. And there is a practical and affordable way to conduct another election that would be fair to all involved, and should gain the support of state officials. It is this: Hold a revote via a mail-in ballot, and underwrite its cost with Democratic Party funds. I've already discussed the idea with Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and he is supportive."
|WRITE CONTENT FOR THE "YES" BOX ABOVE THIS CODE width="45%" bgcolor="#F2FAFB" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top: 0.5em;"| |WRITE CONTENT FOR THE "YES" BOX ABOVE THIS CODE width="45%" bgcolor="#F2FAFB" style="border:1px solid #BAC5FD;padding:.4em;padding-top: 0.5em;"|
====No==== ====No====
Should delegates from Florida and Michigan be included in the 2008 US elections?
1. Should delegates from Florida and Michigan be included in the 2008 US elections? |
3. Rules: Do the rules allow for seating delegates after they've been stripped? | | | |
4. Re-vote: Does a re-vote concept make sense? | | | |
5. Write Subquestion here... | | | |
Rules: Do the rules allow for seating delegates after they've been stripped?
Democratic primary rules offer states some options after being stripped of their delegates Michigan, Florida votes could be crucial for Democrats". CNN.com. February 14, 2008 - "Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons, an Obama supporter, said the rules are the rules.
'Michigan and Florida both decided to violate the rules. They were told, 'If you violate the rules, this will be the penalty.' They violated the rules anyway. And so, now, here we are trying to change the rules after the game,"'he said.
But the rules, according to the DNC, gives the states stripped of their delegates the ability to try other options.
The first course of action is for the state parties to appeal to the Convention Credentials Committee, a group that resolves any issues that pop up."
Florida and Michigan knew the rules. They violated the rules. They should pay the consequence. If not, the Democratic Party wouldn't be democratic.
Re-vote: Does a re-vote concept make sense?
Howard Dean, DNC Chairman, said on a re-vote. "It's comprehensive. You get to vote if you're in Iraq or in a nursing home. It's not a bad way to do this."[1]
Florida Sen. Bill Nelson (D). "Florida Deserves a Revote". March 10, 2008 - "With so much at stake, and the race so close, it's apparent to me that a new election in Florida is a fair way to provide both candidates with another chance to win needed delegates in a state that is certain to be pivotal in November. And there is a practical and affordable way to conduct another election that would be fair to all involved, and should gain the support of state officials. It is this: Hold a revote via a mail-in ballot, and underwrite its cost with Democratic Party funds. I've already discussed the idea with Republican Gov. Charlie Crist and he is supportive."
Write Subquestion here...
Retrieved from "http://dbp.idebate.org/en/index.php/Debate:_Michigan_and_Florida_delegates_in_2008_US_elections"


This is my spot to experiment with ideas. Will this stuff end up being interesting to people outside my day job? Will it ultimately end up in the trash heap? Who knows. If you like what you see, you may also be interested in the NOBL Collective newsletter. Or you could hire me as a speaker. Or, just say hi.


text:
by valuation
Marketshare
Online Marketing Trends
Latest Internet Trends and Digital Marketing, State of Search Optimization, Social Media and Mobile Marketing : the top 5 biggest online disruptions in 2016
By Geographies
By Valuations
Tablet Usage
Mobile Usage
Gadget Usage
Online Spends
Showing posts with label microsoft surface. Show all posts
Microsoft Surface to cost lower than iPad 3
11:56 AM / Unknown /
The Microsoft Surface tablet will go on sale on October 26 in the US and the UK, the same day that Windows 8 is released into the wild.
Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer who will face the iPhone 5 heat when it launches its Surface today indicated that surface tablet is likely to cost anything between $300 and $800.
The most expensive iPad from Apple (64GB with Wi-Fi and Celluar) costs $829 (£649), so even if the Surface ranges up to $800 it would still sit slightly below the iPad. The Surface is scheduled to be released October 26, in conjunction with Microsoft's Windows 8 release.
This price range puts The Surface in line with Apple's iPad and other popular tablets. The iPad ranges from $399, for the iPad 2, all the way up to $829, for the most expensive new iPad.
Windows 8 is a crucial product for Microsoft financially, and it has also committed to larger touchscreen displays too - buying big-screen multitouch tech firm PerceptivePixel.
,nofollow'>ipad, ,nofollow'>microsoft surface, ,nofollow'>Tablet comparison, ,nofollow'>technology
Why Google Jumped into the Tablet Bandwagon
5:36 AM / Unknown /
The tablet versions of Windows begin shipping in Q4 2012 with 7% of total Windows shipped. The ratio reaches 20% by end of 2013. iPad growth is expected to flatten for '12 and '13 at 100%, similar to iPhone's historic performance.
The iPhone turns five this week. One of the most impressive things about the iPhone's five year run is that the average selling price of the phone has remained just about the same around $600, notes Horace Dediu of Asymco. Meanwhile, Apple's rivals pull in less than $400 per device.
Google unveiled its first tablet yesterday, the Nexus 7, manufactured by Asus. While tablet shipments have exploded in the past few years, Android tablets haven't fared so well.
Google needed to wade into the market to give Android tablets a jump start. At the least, it hopes to give other Android manufacturers' efforts a boost, but if the Nexus 7 becomes a hit on its own then all the better
Apple defined the modern smartphone market with the iPhone. It then faced an onslaught of competition from Google, Microsoft, Palm, and Research In Motion. Despite their various efforts to dethrone the iPhone, Apple has managed to stay on top. This is evident by the fact that since 2008 Apple has never had to slash its prices.
,nofollow'>Google Nexus 7, ,nofollow'>let trends, ,nofollow'>microsoft surface, ,nofollow'>mobile usage, ,nofollow'>Tablet comparison, ,nofollow'>tablet marketshare
The Making of the Tablet Economy: How Big is the Market
With the Launch of Google's official Tablet , Nexus ,the question that is doing the round across the tech industry is " does the Tablet market big enough " for everyone to have some share of the pie .. or this is another consumer electronics bubble in making .
Google tablet market foray has no doubt raised the stakes for everyone.. and as its just a matter of time before Tablets replace PC as the computing device of choice .However the truth is that Not everyone is making money by selling tablets .It's not lost on Google that Amazon's $199 Kindle Fire was the only slate to grab a sizeable chunk of the market beyond Apple's iPad last year.
But the price at which Amazon kindle's were sold barely covered the cost of manufacturing.. and the situation is unlikely to change soon
With Apple winning the high-end tablet wars, Google and Amazon and now Microsoft are left to fight over the low end of the market.
When a Google-branded tablet finally launches — likely in the third quarter — it will have to be heavily subsidized to carry a $150 price tag, analysts said."It will cost more to build than it will sell for, which means Google will pay a heavy subsidy for its tablet," said analyst Tony Berkman of ITG Research. "There is no choice but to do that, if Google wants to compete."
Yesterday, reports out of China suggested Amazon also was working on next-generation Kindle Fire tablets and will continue to undersell the iPad at $200.
,nofollow'>connected device, ,nofollow'>Google Nexus, ,nofollow'>market share, ,nofollow'>microsoft surface, ,nofollow'>personal Computing, ,nofollow'>smartphones, ,nofollow'>table comparison, ,nofollow'>tablets, ,nofollow'>technology
Microsoft Surface Vs Google Nexus vs Apple iPad
,nofollow'>Google Nexus, ,nofollow'>microsoft surface, ,nofollow'>Tablet comparison
search onlinemarketing trends
weeks highest shared
The Size of Walmart: : Statistics and Trends
250million iPhones sold in 5 Years , 50% Sold in last 18 Months
your banner here
most read marketing posts
digital marketing links
digital spending
Blog Archive July 2018 (1) January 2018 (14) December 2017 (9) November 2017 (11) October 2017 (1) September 2017 (1) August 2017 (2) June 2017 (2) May 2017 (13) April 2017 (2) March 2017 (6) February 2017 (2) January 2017 (21) December 2016 (45) November 2016 (56) October 2016 (15) September 2016 (5) August 2016 (18) July 2016 (8) June 2016 (8) May 2016 (9) April 2016 (5) March 2016 (8) February 2016 (95) January 2016 (127) December 2015 (86) November 2015 (104) October 2015 (52) September 2015 (14) August 2015 (34) July 2015 (143) June 2015 (123) May 2015 (167) April 2015 (85) March 2015 (113) February 2015 (69) January 2015 (50) December 2014 (14) November 2014 (33) October 2014 (38) September 2014 (49) August 2014 (43) July 2014 (55) June 2014 (61) May 2014 (67) April 2014 (56) March 2014 (55) February 2014 (70) January 2014 (75) December 2013 (52) November 2013 (123) October 2013 (100) September 2013 (72) August 2013 (80) July 2013 (56) June 2013 (60) May 2013 (53) April 2013 (54) March 2013 (176) February 2013 (97) January 2013 (73) December 2012 (80) November 2012 (118) October 2012 (102) September 2012 (82) August 2012 (86) July 2012 (103) June 2012 (142) May 2012 (152) April 2012 (149) March 2012 (167) February 2012 (148) January 2012 (157) December 2011 (107) November 2011 (211) October 2011 (177) September 2011 (158) August 2011 (171) July 2011 (171) June 2011 (185) May 2011 (185) April 2011 (325) March 2011 (392) February 2011 (634) January 2011 (374) December 2010 (31) November 2010 (45) August 2010 (23) July 2010 (22) June 2010 (12) May 2010 (2) April 2010 (1) March 2010 (5) February 2010 (4) January 2010 (3) December 2009 (3) November 2009 (5) October 2009 (6) September 2009 (13) August 2009 (17) July 2009 (6) June 2009 (24) May 2009 (6) April 2009 (8) September 2008 (10) August 2008 (9) July 2008 (7) June 2008 (7) May 2008 (6) April 2008 (3) March 2008 (12) February 2008 (12) January 2008 (8) December 2007 (14) November 2007 (14) October 2007 (18) September 2007 (13) August 2007 (1) July 2007 (9)
Copyright © Online Marketing Trends | Powered by Blogger


The name Ramoth-negev occurs twice in the Bible, once with and once without the maqqep (the Hebrew hyphen). Without the maqqep our name belongs to a settlement in the territory allotted to the tribe of Judah, but which was handed over to the tribe of Simeon (Joshua 19:8). With the maqqep our name is mentioned among the towns that received parts of the spoils that David took from the Amalekites who had unwisely raided David's base at Ziklag (1 Samuel 30:27).
The name Ramoth-negev may literally mean Heights Of The Height, or something to that extent, but the negev-part was probably added to distinguish this Ramoth from the few others. This one is Southern Ramoth.


text:
1983: The California Transportation Commission ranks Metro Rail as one of the state's 10 high priority transit projects.
Rendering for Metro Rail Main Yard & Shops, May 1983 (Click to enlarge)
1983: The State of California approves $32.6 million for the acquisition of the Santa Fe Rail Yard to be used for Metro Rail storage and maintenance shops.
Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley and other officials at Metro Rail Segment One groundbreaking (Click to enlarge)
1986: Groundbreaking is held on Segment 1 of the Metro Rail Red Line Project on the site of the Civic Center station at 1st and Hill Streets.
The event marks the return of rail after 35 years of mass transit planning by the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority (1951-1964) and Southern California Rapid Transit District.
The 4.4 mile, five-station segment will stretch from Union Station to MacArthur Park, with Segment 1 to be completed by October of 1992.
Numerous photos from the groundbreaking ceremony can be found here.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa is joined by LACMTA Board Members and other officials in groundbreaking for Metro Expo Line (Click for more information)
2006: The Exposition Metro Line Construction Authority breaks ground on the 8.5-mile Metro Exposition Line.
The Expo Line is projected to cost $640 million and estimated ridership is pegged at 43,600 daily riders by the year 2020.
Los Angeles County Supervisor and LACMTA Board Member Gloria Molina declares:
"Today's groundbreaking on this crucial link to the regional transportation system marks a major milestone in bringing rail access to the Westside. It's been over 50 years since Pacific Electric's Santa Monica Air Line provided passenger service along this right-of-way and in less than five years we will once again have a rail system in place to ease congestion and speed travel times for Westside residents."
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa acknowledges the efforts of current and former Board members and the involvement of cities along the Expo Line right-of-way:
"We understand that if we don't begin to rethink what the region looks like; if we don't begin to invest in public transit and move people out of the single-passenger automobile; if we don't figure out how to treat density along transportation corridors like they do in every great city around the world; we're not going to address the quality of life in this city."


Buy Baxton Studio Kalien Large Bookcase in Dark Brown from $153.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond. Simple and architectural, the Kalien Bookcase from Baxton Studio is an ideal storage and display unit for your home. Its clean, functional design features a roomy drawer, 2 smaller open shelves, 2 larger open shelves, and large shelf for all your stuff.Simple and architectural, the Kalien Bookcase from Baxton Studio is an ideal storage and display unit for your home. Its clean, functional design features a roomy drawer, 2 smaller open shelves, 2 larger open shelves, and large shelf for all your stuff.
Full of quirky and unique style, the Goodwin Bookcase from Baxton Studio is the perfect way to display your favorite collectibles, home accents, and books. Featuring stacked, fixed shelves that alternate between large and small and a dark brown finish.
Store all of your books, DVDs, CDs, and more with the Baxton Studio Large Wood Bookcase. This handy cabinet features two pulled-out doors that reveal hidden shelving space. With mounted casters, you can easily move this case around as needed.
Display your favorite books and collectibles in style with the Barnes Bookcase. This modern inspired bookcase features misaligned shelves for a fun, off-beat style that will suit your décor well. Use it to display books, vases, or other home accents.
Show off your favorite books and accessories with the Baxton Studio Odgen Bookcase. This modern 5 shelf bookcase features a dark brown finish creating an inviting place to display different sized photos and objects with a chic contemporary flair.
Display your books and other valuables with modern style with the Baxton Studio Cassidy Bookcase. This bookcase features a modern style with wide rectangular boxes offering plenty of space both within and on top of the shelves themselves.


Ever since the start of the crisis over phone hacking that has engulfed the worlds of politics, journalism and the police over the past three weeks, Prime Minister David Cameron had appeared to be stuck on the back foot.
Much as he himself once managed to make Gordon Brown seem leaden-footed in his response to the MPs' expenses crisis two years ago, Labour leader Ed Miliband had seemed to be making the political weather as the public backlash against News International intensified.
Fortunately for Mr Cameron, he is far too skilled a politician for it to have lasted forever and sure enough, this week saw him finally come out fighting.
Prime Ministers always have an inbuilt advantage in the game of politics in that, while opposition leaders can just talk, they can actually do – and this week it was an advantage Mr Cameron exploited to the full.
Cutting short his trip to Africa, he postponed the parliamentary recess by 24 hours, enabling an extra session of Prime Minister's Questions and an emergency statement on phone hacking to be squeezed in before the MPs' summer break.
But besides raising the morale of the Tory Party by showing a bit of grit and determination in the face of his Labour tormentors, did it actually do him any good?
Well, his admission that he should not have hired the former News of the World editor Andy Coulson as his press secretary will go part of the way towards defusing the issue which has dogged him since well before the start of the current media firestorm.
But as Mr Miliband was swift to point out, having regrets about the appointment does not get away from the fact that it was, as he put it "a catastrophic error of judgment."
Mr Cameron has still yet to satisfactorily explain why he chose to ignore so many warnings about the dangers of making Mr Coulson Downing Street communications director.
The disclosure that his chief of staff Ed Llewellyn had refused a detailed briefing on phone-hacking from the police could be interpreted as wanting to protect the Prime Minister from any suggestion that he could influence the investigation.
But it could equally be the case that aides like Mr Llewellyn simply did not want to tell the Prime Minister what they knew he did not want to hear.
Wednesday's debate also provided a convenient platform for Labour MPs to raise some additional issues which have further muddied the waters in relation to Mr Coulson.
First, Labour MP Chris Bryant claimed that the Royal Family had raised concerns with Downing Street about Mr Coulson's appointment – which would be hardly surprising since most of them had had their phones hacked.
Then the highly-respected former local government minister Nick Raynsford suggested that Mr Coulson might actually have practised phone-hacking while in the role of Downing Street press secretary, with a senior government official as the victim.
The Cabinet Secretary denied it, but if this allegation were to turn out to be true, the situation would look very grave indeed for Mr Cameron.
But the biggest reason why the Prime Minister is not out of the woods yet on phone hacking is because the question of his longer-term political survival is not really about that.
It is, rather, about his relationship with his Liberal Democrat coalition partners.
Nick Clegg and his party had no option but to go into the coalition in May 2011. The arithmetic of going with Labour didn't stack up, and standing on the sidelines and inflicting another election on the public would not have been forgiven.
But having entered it, they have found over the past 14 months just what a rock and a hard place they were put in as a result of the inconclusive election outcome.
As I wrote at the start of this year, a team is only as strong as its weakest member, and such has been the slump in the Lib Dems' political fortunes since joining the coalition that they currently constitute a pretty broken reed.
It remains my view that, in order to stand a chance of holding onto its Southern power base in which the Tories are its main challengers, the party has to find a way to break up the coalition at a point of maximum advantage to itself and maximum disadvantage to Mr Cameron.
As the political season draws to a close, that essential dynamic that makes this such a potentially unstable alliance between the two partners remains unaltered.
Mr Cameron may think he is safe for now. But as Lloyd George found, in a coalition, you are only ever as safe as your partners allow you to be.
Murdoch's power has been broken. Could Cameron's be next?
For the past thirty years, the British political establishment has been in thrall to Rupert Murdoch - the 24th member of Tony Blair's Cabinet as he was once dubbed.
In the course of that period, his media empire has variously decided the outcome of elections, dictated the membership of Cabinets, shaped policies on a wide range of issues and even influenced whether or not the country went to war.
But this Wednesday, the worm finally turned as the Australian media tycoon's bid to buy 100pc of BSkyB was swept away in the storm that has engulfed him in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal.
It was as if three decades of pent-up resentment had suddenly been unleashed in a torrent , as the politicians who have been forced to kow-tow to Murdoch all that time finally broke free of his yoke.
There is a certain historical irony in the fact that it was the dear old House of Commons which finally delivered the coup-de-grace to Murdoch's dreams of further media expansion.
For those of us with long memories, it seemed a fitting reward for the way in which he conned Parliament into agreeing to his takeover of The Times and the Sunday Times in 1981 by giving 'editorial guarantees' he had no intention of keeping.
These undertakings enabled the then Trade and Industry Secretary John Biffen to sidestep a reference to the then Monopolies Commission.
Within a year, Murdoch had broken every single one of them, including sacking the Times' editor and transferring the two titles into a different part of his business.
I will give two small examples from the recent past of how the influence of his empire has distorted the political life of the nation.
In 2009, the now former News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks let it be known that David Cameron's Tories would not get their support at the ensuing general election unless Dominic Grieve was replaced as Shadow Home Secretary. He duly was.
Then, last year, James Murdoch made it clear he wanted the Labour government's plans for regional news consortia scrapped. When the Coalition came in, they duly were.
These, however, are relatively trivial examples compared with, for instance, his papers' routine character assassination of certain party leaders and consultations with Tony Blair in the days prior to the invasion of Iraq.
But if Murdoch was undoubtedly the biggest loser of the week, it's not been a great seven days for Mr Cameron either.
Because it was not the Prime Minister who finally led the fightback against the Murdoch empire, but the man who wants his job - Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Mr Miliband undoubtedly took a gamble by calling a vote on the BSKyB bid – but within 48 hours every other party had followed his lead.
His reading of the public mood in this crisis has been consistently ahead of the curve and, for now at any rate, he has drawn a line under the troubles that had beset his leadership earlier in the summer.
Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, too, ends the week with his position enhanced, again at Mr Cameron's expense.
It was his threat to vote with Labour on Wednesday that forced the Prime Minister into his U-turn on the BSkyB deal, potentially altering the balance of power within the Coalition in the process.
Mr Clegg has also pointedly disassociated himself with the shadow of Andy Coulson's appointment as Downing Street's director of communications that continues to hang over Mr Cameron.
"It was his appointment and his appointment alone. We did discuss it... it was something that we didn't see eye to eye on," he said.
This is where the phone-hacking scandal starts to play into the much bigger and wider issue of the Coalition's ultimate survival.
Some Lib Dems have started to speculate that Mr Cameron may emerge from the scandal so badly damaged that they could actually bring him down.
I have argued from the start of this Coalition that the Lib Dems somehow have to find a way of getting out of it alive, and this might just be their best opportunity.
We would then not just be looking at the downfall of a media empire, but the downfall of a government.
I had left the parliamentary lobby the year before in order to pursue a different line of work and enjoy a better quality of life, and although I did not miss the lobby as such, I did miss being able to sound-off about the political events of the day.
To my surprise, the blog "took off" in a small way and for the first few years of its existence was regularly voted among the top 20 political blogs in the UK in Iain Dale's annual guide.
For a while, I thought it might even fill that much-talked-about left-of-centre "void" in a political blogosphere which, at the time, was dominated by three giant Conservative blogs - Iain Dale's Diary, Guido Fawkes and Conservative Home.
As it turned out, a number of factors militated against that, the biggest of which was that the mainstream media with their hugely superior resources swiftly got in on the blogging phenomenon.
Why bother reading what Paul Linford had to say about the latest Labour leadership crisis when you could read the views of people much closer to the action, such as Benedict Brogan or Paul Waugh?
Like many other 'lone' bloggers at the time, I also found the readers' appetites for constant updates - 'feeding the blog monster' as it became known - impossible to sustain.
And there were internal pressures within my then workplace too, something about which I will say more some day.
I kept the blog going, mainly because it still retained a small core of loyal readers and commenters (thanks, guys), and also to provide an online presence for my weekly column in The Journal, which otherwise only appeared in print.
But I had long since come to the view that the best outlet for my blogging in future would be to join a group blog where the burden of providing a constant stream of entertaining and informative new material could be shared with others.
For a while I contributed to Liberal Conspiracy, but although I am an economic leftist, I have always been a small-c conservative on social issues and it soon became clear to me that my views on such matters as abortion were not appreciated by my fellow group bloggers there.
Fortunately Iain Dale has now offered me another opportunity through his new, non-partisan megablog Dale and Co, and this is where my main political blogging will be done from now on.
So far I have contributed two pieces on Rupert Murdoch and the phone-hacking scandal - the latest one focusing why yesterday's House of Commons vote to curb his expansion plans was 30 years overdue - and another more reflective historical piece on whether a British Prime Minister will ever again serve two non-consecutive terms.
An online presence for my Saturday column.
A central reference point for my output across a variety of print and online platforms, including Dale and Co, Total Politics and The Journalism Hub.
An outlet for some occasional personal blogging which will not be of great interest to readers of those other platforms.
A readily accessible archive of my blogging output over the past six years, including my 'Political Top 10s' which continue to get pretty high Google rankings.
A series of links to sites which interest me and which may interest others of a like mind who drop by here.
To those who are interested in that sort of stuff, please continue to visit. To the rest of you, see you over at Dale and Co.
The encounter happened the morning after the Rupert Murdoch-owned Sun newspaper announced it was switching its support to the Tories on the night of Gordon Brown's pre-election conference speech.
In what was surely one of Cathy Newman's finest TV moments, Mandelson denied using a four-letter word to the News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks.
First it was the News of the World, scrapped by its owner Rupert Murdoch in an attempted damage-limitation exercise amid allegations that it hacked into the voicemail messages of, among others, schoolgirl murder victim Milly Dowler, relatives of the 7/7 victims, the families of soldiers killed in Iraq, and - she had to get dragged in somewhere - Princess Diana's lawyer.
Then it was the turn of the Press Complaints Commission, facing the axe after a rare outbreak of consensus between Prime Minister David Cameron, who branded it "ineffective" and Labour leader Ed Miliband, whose favoured adjective was "toothless."
The casualties of the phone-hacking affair continue to mount up, with those still at risk including News International chief executive Rebekah Brooks, and the company's increasingly forlorn hopes of taking over 100pc ownership of BSkyB.
But the big question at Westminster this weekend is whether those casualties will stay confined to the world of journalism and the media - or whether the scandal will eventually claim political scalps.
Phone-hacking has been branded rather too simplistically this week as journalism's equivalent of the MPs' expenses scandal, or even as the politicians' revenge on the trade for having uncovered their duck-island antics two summers ago.
It is nothing of the sort. This is far more than a crisis in British journalism, it is rather a crisis in British public life that goes right to the top of the tree.
No less a commentator than Peter Oborne this week described Mr Cameron as a "profoundly damaged figure" for having hired Andy Coulson, the former News of the World editor arrested by police yesterday, and for his friendship with Ms Brooks.
"The series of disgusting revelations concerning his friends and associates from Rupert Murdoch's News International has permanently and irrevocably damaged his reputation....He has made not one, but a long succession of chronic personal misjudgments," he wrote.
Is this overstating the case? Well, possibly - but if one thing is clear from the past week's events it is that this is a fast-changing story in which assumptions can be very quickly overturned.
Nobody would have predicted a week ago that the country's biggest selling newspaper, an iconic title with 168 years of history behind it, would be abruptly closed. But it has happened.
The most damning aspect of the affair for Mr Cameron is the fact that he was given details about Mr Coulson's possible involvement in phone-hacking before making him Downing Street director of communications after last year's election win.
In his article this week, Mr Oborne disclosed that Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, who was in possession of many of the facts long before they could be published, delivered the warning to Mr Cameron's adviser Steve Hilton prior to the election.
It is inconceivable that Mr Hilton would not have passed on these concerns to Mr Cameron, but evidently the Prime Minister chose to ignore them.
Knowing what we now know of the allegations made against Mr Coulson, that does not just call into question the Prime Minister's judgement, it calls into question his commonsense.
Meanwhile, spare a thought this weekend for Gordon Brown, who wanted to hold the same kind of judicial inquiry into phone hacking that Mr Cameron has announced this week, but was blocked from doing so by the cabinet secretary, on the grounds that it would be too sensitive before the election.
Had he got his way, and the grisly facts tumbled out ahead of polling day, it is very likely that Mr Brown would still be Prime Minister today.
Mr Coulson, who was then Mr Cameron's chief spin doctor, would have had to resign, and the public's doubts about the Tory leader would have been dramatically reinforced.
It's been said plenty of times before, but in politics, as in journalism, timing really is everything.
More than a quarter of a century ago, a young, recently-elected Labour leader found himself caught on the horns of an excruciating political dilemma as he sought to drag his party into the post-industrial era.
The National Union of Mineworkers under its leader Arthur Scargill had just gone on strike in protest at Margaret Thatcher's pit closure programme without calling a national ballot of its members.
Did Neil Kinnock condemn the strike and put himself at odds with the union which, more than any other, defined the Labour movement, or support it and leave his modernisation agenda holed below the waterline?
In the end, he did neither, choosing to sit on the fence until the battle was effectively over, although with the benefit of hindsight, he now says he regrets not having called for a ballot at the outset.
Was it possibly this example that the current Labour leader, Ed Miliband, had in mind, when he came down firmly against this week's one-day stoppage by the public sector unions over pensions?
It certainly represented a gamble for a man who owes his entire position to the trade union barons whose votes swung last year's knife-edge Labour leadership election in his favour.
Predictably, one of them has already branded him a "disgrace" for failing to support Thursday's action but, to give him his due, Mr Miliband is at least trying to show some leadership over the issue.
Whether he is proved right or wrong in his judgement depends of course on how the battle for public opinion already under way over the pensions issue ultimately pans out.
The argument on this score is currently pretty finely balanced. While some will invariably blame the unions for Thursday's disruptions, many are instinctively sympathetic to their cause.
Attempts by ministers to frame the debate in terms of a comparison between "generous" public sector pensions and those in the private sector risk being seen as advocating a "race to the bottom."
Mr Miliband's calculation, at the moment, is that the strikes will harm the union's cause and by implication the Labour Party's if it is seen to be supporting them.
But by focusing his arguments this week on the timing of the action – at a point when negotiations with the government are still ongoing – he has at least left himself a way out if there is a shift in the public mood.
For Prime Minister David Cameron, too, the stakes are high, partly because of the sheer amount of taxpayers' money involved, and partly because of the government's recent series of U-turns.
First it was the forestry sell-off, then the plan to reduce sentences for offenders who plead guilty early, and finally and most damagingly of all the proposed shake-up of the National Health Service.
Any more climbdowns – particularly in the face of pressure from the unions – and his government's credibility would surely be permanently shot to pieces.
The fact that Mr Cameron was prepared to put his personal authority on the line over the pensions issue in a series of interventions last week suggests he is well aware of this danger.
I began this column by alluding to the Thatcher-Scargill prize-fight of 1984-85 and, for both of the two main parties, its legacy continues to hang heavily over the politics of industrial relations in the UK.
If the strike hampered Mr Kinnock's attempts to modernise his party, it also helped cement Mrs Thatcher's reputation as the woman who transformed Britain from the economic basket-case of the 70s to the self-confident nation it became in the course of the ensuing decade.
All subsequent Tory leaders bar none have since struggled to escape her shadow, and for all his efforts to fashion a more compassionate brand of Conservatism, the current one is no exception.
Just as Ed Miliband hopes to be compared favourably with the Welsh Windbag, David Cameron cannot afford to be compared unfavourably with the Iron Lady.


text:
The Martin Marietta plant case is going back…
The Martin Marietta plant case is going back before the Weld County Commissioners after a judge denied neighbors' requests to order it torn down
By Sara Knuth | sknuth@greeleytribune.com |
PUBLISHED: June 4, 2018 at 4:01 p.m. | UPDATED: May 13, 2020 at 3:52 a.m.
The nearly three-year legal battle over the controversial Martin Marietta Materials concrete and asphalt plant in Johnstown took another sharp turn Monday after a judge effectively sent the project back into the hands of the Board of Weld County Commissioners.
Weld District Court Judge Todd Taylor issued two separate rulings Monday afternoon, denying the plant's neighbors' request to have it torn down and affirming an entreaty from Martin Marietta and the county for a chance to fix the issues that caused the Colorado Court of Appeals to reverse the county commissioners' decision to allow the plant.
In his ruling denying the request to tear the plant down, Taylor castigated the plaintiffs for failing to cite legal authority. Taylor also said he could not order the plant torn down because the plaintiffs never filed for an injunction that would have stopped construction of the plant while the case made its way through the courts.
"While a lay person might mistakenly believe that a court has the power to grant a form of relief that was not requested before the judgment entered, the plaintiffs' lawyers should know better," Taylor wrote.
In his second ruling, which sent the case back to the county commissioners, Taylor said he had previously "erred in directing the board to deny the special use permit, rather than remanding the case for the board to decide how to address the deficiency identified by the Court of Appeals."
For the neighbors, Monday's development quashed a short-lived victory that came in April after county officials confirmed they would not take the Court of Appeals decision – to reverse their approval of the plant – to the Supreme Court. Afterward, Martin Marietta Materials Regional Vice President David Hagerman foreshadowed Monday's development by saying he expected the plant to be operational at some point. At the time, he did not elaborate on how the company would move forward with accomplishing that.
In a statement Monday, members of CLR-34 Neighborhoods Association, the nonprofit formed to inform neighbors about issues related to the case, said they are considering all options in light of the ruling.
"We are reviewing Judge Taylor's orders to understand how they can be reconciled with the fact that we prevailed at the Court of Appeals, which issued a mandate to order the denial of the MMM (Martin Marietta Materials) application," said Dave Kisker, the president of the CLR-34 Neighborhoods Association and a co-plaintiff.
Neighbors declined to answer additional questions, saying they plan to talk with their attorney Wednesday to determine their path forward.
For Martin Marietta, the rulings could provide a green light in a case that goes back to August 2015, when county commissioners first approved a use by special review permit that allowed the company to build the plant in the middle of land zoned for agricultural use. A month after that, residents sued the commissioners to overturn their approval.
The Weld District Court initially ruled in favor of the county and Martin Marietta, but that ruling was overturned by the Colorado Court of Appeals in November 2017. Then, last month, Martin Marietta and the plaintiffs filed their separate motions, the ones Taylor ruled on Monday.
In a statement Monday, Hagerman said the company looks forward to going through the next steps of the county's use by special review process.
And depending on the county's decision, use of the facility could happen quickly – officials said it's ready to operate, with 100-foot silos, a 6,400-foot railroad loop, storage for tens of thousands of gallons of diesel fuel, 180 tons of coal fly ash and 40,000 pounds of chemical color additives complete. In its statement, the company said it originally was developed "to replace the diminishing supply of construction aggregates available in northern Colorado."
"Martin Marietta has worked hard to build a state-of-the art facility that is compatible with the community," company officials said in the statement, adding that on top of the company's original $20 million investment in the site, officials made $50 million in improvements to "minimize impacts to surrounding neighbors."
For neighbors, though, the plant hasn't been viewed that way. The 131-acre project, located near U.S. 34 and Weld County Road 13, sits by single-family homes, an organic farm that specializes in food for pregnant mothers and a planned wedding venue and events center called Rockin S Ranch.
– Tribune reporter Tommy Wood contributed to this story.
This story has been updated to accurately reflect the name of the organization formed to update neighbors of the project about developments in the case. The organization, CLR-34 Neighborhoods Association, previously was misidentified as a homeowners association.
Sara Knuth


text:
Home Culture Art Performances and Activities Denizli Introduction Days in Ankara
Denizli Introduction Days in Ankara
Denizli Introduction Days began in Capital City Ankara. During introduction days, industry, textiles, marble, culture, history, agriculture, music and energy resources of Denizli will be introduced.
Minister of Forestry and Water Veysel Eroğlu participated in the opening ceremony of organization, held at Ankara Atatürk Culture Center. Mayor Osman Zolan, Denizli Governor Abdülkadir Demir, Hasan Erbil Chief Public Prosecutor of Supreme Court of Appeals, Denizli MPs Nihat Zeybekci, Mehmet Yüksel, Nurcan Dalbudak, Bilal Uçar, Emin Haluk Ayhan Deputy Chairman of MHP Party (Nationalist Movement Party), Güldal Akşit President of AK Party Women's Branch and numerous guests attended the opening ceremony of event.
After a minute's silence and reading of National Anthem, Denizli Municipality's PAHOY Folk Dance Group presented Zeybek folk dance show.
Minister Eroğlu stated that despite the cold weather, a warm people came together here. He said that Denizli people is a hardworking and enterprising. Denizli is a leader in the fields of agriculture, textile and culture. Denizli also shows the nice specimens in the field of urbanization.
Guldal Akşit said Denizli is known for its industry, culture and thermal water and these beauties is known all over the world.
Mayor Osman Zolan: 'We want to introduce our city and city's products in Turkey and all over the world. We exhibited here the cultural richness of our city. I would like to thank minister for his participation in such important activity for us; I also thank deputies and everyone who contributed in the organization of this activity.'
Nihat Zeybekci stated that they will continue to support introduction of Denizli's features and beauties in Turkey and all over the world. He thanked everyone who contributed in the organization.
Hasan Oymak President of Denizlim Culture and Solidarity Association also made a speech.
Then ribbon cutting ceremony was conducted by Minister Eroğlu, Akşit and other members of protocol. Minister also visited stands, where were exhibited Denizli's products.
At the end of the event, Makbule Kaya Artist of Turkish Folk Music gave the concert for guests. Also clothing, made from fabrics of Buldan were exhibited in the fashion show.


text:
The native spirit of Japan, shochu offers a rich umami flavor that whisky enthusiasts may also enjoy.
The Whisky Lover's Guide to Shochu
September 9, 2022 –––––– Sally Kral, , , ,
"Although it's been around for more than 500 years and is popular in Japan, shochu is still breaking into American drinking culture," says Tetsuro Miyazaki, general manager of Iichiko Shochu USA. "It's known as the native spirit of Japan, and it offers an incredibly rich umami flavor while also remaining very light with a smooth finish."
Shochu can be made from any number of ingredients, but the most common types available in the U.S. are barley (mugi), sweet potato (imo), rice (kome), and unrefined cane sugar, also called black sugar (kokuto). The base ingredient is fermented using koji mold—just like in sake production—but unlike sake, which is brewed, shochu is distilled like whisky. Most traditional shochu is single-distilled in pot stills (honkaku) but it can also be made by continuous distillation (ko-rui). After distillation, water is usually added to bring the alcohol content to between 20% and 43% before the spirit rests in stainless steel tanks or clay pots, or is aged in wood barrels.
"Shochu has quite a few flavor profiles and characteristics that depend on the base ingredient used as well as the variety of koji used—and while I'm a firm believer that there's no right or wrong way to enjoy a dram, there are different serving options that can greatly enhance this special spirit," says Victoria Vera, general manager and shochu buyer at Tsunami Panhandle in San Francisco, which carries the largest shochu selection in the country. "Kokuto shochu is the most friendly style—one I almost always recommendto a first timer or novice—and is refreshing on the rocks; kome shochu tends to be light and smooth, working well in a cocktail, neat, or on the rocks; mugi shochu can be either light and fruity or grainy and oaky depending on the aging vessel and tastes amazing on the rocks; imo shochu is not for the faint of heart—it is big, bold, and funky in the best way possible and I love to enjoy it in a ceramic mug that's filled halfway up with hot water."
Whisky enthusiasts—particularly fans of Japanese and scotch—will find similar characteristics in mugi shochu. Non-wood aged mugi shochu will have familiar flavors from the cereal grain, while cask-aged mugi brings in those lovely toasty notes. "Introducing whisky drinkers to shochu with an oak-aged mugi shochu is the smoothest transition," Vera says. "From there you can often entice them to explore shochus distilled from other grains that also spent time aging in different vessels such as sherry or cognac barrels." Other types of shochu will also have flavors whisky drinkers love, from clean, fruity, and floral kome shochu to smooth and lightly sweet kokuto shochu to earthy and umami imo shochu.
In addition to the hundreds of Japanese shochu distillers, there are several U.S. producers aiming to make shochu a household spirit among American drinkers, including American Shochu Company in Frederick, Maryland, Hawaiian Shochu Company in Oahu, Horyzon Spirits in Atlanta, and St. George Spirits in Alameda, California. "I believe every shochu is worth exploring," Vera says.
Six Shochus to Try
Hyakunen no Kodoku—40%, $85 This single-distilled shochu contains 100% estate-grown organic barley. A bourbon fan will appreciate its aging in new American oak for 3 to 5 years, which imparts a soft, mellow sweetness as well as oak and cigar notes, with layers of coconut and fragrant barley flavors. This shochu's sweetness becomes more pronounced when mixed with water.
Iichiko Saiten—43%, $33 Made for mixing in cocktails, this is a single-distilled, non-wood aged barley shochu, with aromas of honeydew, white grapes, kabosu citrus, soy, white pepper, and barley notes. On the palate it exudes rich umami flavors of jasmine tea, white peach, and hints of citrus, with a maltiness similar to single malt whiskies, especially those from the Lowlands.
Nankai Gold—43%, $74 A blend of 80% single-distilled black sugar and 20% rice shochus, each aged up to 5 years in American white oak and French limousin casks before blending. It has qualities similar to Japanese whisky, with fruity, floral, and malty aromas and gentle notes of fruit, raisins, chocolate, and honey.
Satsuma Kuradashi Genshu—37%, $45 This non-wood aged sweet potato shochu is single-distilled and undiluted (genshu), resulting in a silky-smooth palate—similar in character to bourbon—with shy herbal and floral notes, and the enticing flavor and aroma of sweet potato pie. When poured over ice, it becomes lighter and more lively—its umami flavors make it an excellent accompaniment to a meal and in cocktails.
St. George California Shochu—40%, $50 Single-distilled from Calrose rice sake lees—the solid mash byproduct left over from sake production—from Takara Sake Brewery in Berkley, California. It offers cashew, pistachio, sweet mushroom, and dried cocoa on the nose, with the cocoa further developing on the palate as bittersweet chocolate. Enjoy in a Highball or in a Japanese whisky cocktail.
Tenshi no Yuwaku Imo—40%, $80 Aged 10 years in sherry casks, this undiluted sweet potato shochu is one of the longest-aged shochus available in the U.S. It has a thick, creamy texture, with bold and lush flavors of vanilla bean, dried fruits, sweet potato, and a whisper of dried orange peel on the long finish. This shochu will appeal to fans of sherry cask-finished single malts.
Distillations Insights skral Summer 2022


Through my involvement in the pan-European Open Innovation Network project (OI-Net) and my participation in the December 2016 Third World Open Innovation Conference, I had the opportunity to meet with Professor Henry Chesbrough, one of the leading contemporary scholars in the innovation field and the founder of the Open Innovation paradigm. After a brief introduction to Open Innovation, Professor Chesbrough shares his insights exclusively for this inaugural issue of iMBA SCOPE, the newsletter of the MBA International Program.
During the last decade, the focus in innovation studies and practice has shifted from the product/service to the business model, i.e., to the elements surrounding the core offer of innovating companies. In this context, Open Innovation (OI) has emerged as an umbrella concept (Huizingh, 2011) for various forms of collaborative innovation activities. OI can encompass a wide range of forms and degrees of openness in the innovation process (Laursen & Salter, 2006). Companies can engage in outbound Open Innovation by either revealing or selling ideas, knowledge or technologies, in inbound Open Innovation by either sourcing or acquiring such innovation assets from outside (Dahlander & Gann, 2010), or in both by coupling external knowledge sources and outbound commercialization activities (Chesbrough & Bogers, 2014). Selling and acquiring are pecuniary forms of OI, while, revealing and sourcing are non-pecuniary (Dahlander & Gann, 2010).
Synthesizing the above, OI conceptualizes innovation as taking place within systems of companies and other relevant actors who exchange knowledge and co-develop products and services in loosely coupled networks where business models are dynamically created, reshaped, dissolved and recreated. This implies that adoption of OI and transformation of innovation processes towards more openness are to a large extent a cultural challenge (Huston & Sakkab, 2006) where new knowledge, skills and abilities on the part of the workforce are required (e.g., Petraite et al, 2016). The starting point for Open Innovation, often referred to by Henry Chesbrough to explain the need for a change in mindset, is that "not all the smart people work for us". So, as he explains, the cultural challenge lies in embracing this fact, rather than seeing it as a threat, and in finding and collaborating with other smart people outside the focal organization.
In the interview that follows, my questions to Professor Chesbrough concern the specificities of Open Innovation in comparison to collaborative innovation, risks related to OI, and how OI can be beneficial in the difficult context of the Greek crisis.
Some people might be slightly confused about what differs Open Innovation from collaborative innovation. Can you clarify how OI contributes differently to innovation performance and competitive advantage compared to more 'traditional' collaborative innovation?
There are lots of uses of "Open Innovation", like the Eskimos have many words for snow. The best definition I work with is that Open Innovation is a distributed process involving inflows and outflows of knowledge from organizations for both monetary and non-monetary reasons, according to their business models. So it includes open source, like in open source software, but is not restricted to that. It includes crowdsourcing, but involves more actors than just the crowd. And there is a business model dimension to it, which is what determines what knowledge to seek from the outside, and what knowledge to share with the outside of the organization. Traditional collaboration might have been concerned with two parties; open innovation includes ecosystems, complementors, crowds, and many more actors beyond a dyadic collaboration.
At least when observed from a certain distance, OI seems to be about 'divulging' ideas to others, both in the outside-in and inside-out modes. Isn't Open Innovation a risky avenue to pursue?
Yes, there are risks to using Open Innovation. And there may be cases where the best course of action is not to share. But I suspect that, for most companies, being more open is a better approach. For small companies, if you never share, you might never gain any attention and you might be condemned to obscurity. For large companies, if you never share, you reduce your ability to attract others who can enhance your offering and make it more compelling. And for all companies, there are relatively few cases where what you have is so superior to what others might develop that the world will wait for you. Far more often, if you don't share, the world will simply pass you by and go with those organizations that did share.
So when into or planning for sharing, what must companies do, especially those smaller ones that share their innovations with larger ones, in order to reduce and mitigate potential risks?
The easiest thing to do is to have a public version of your offering, and a more private version. You can share the public version with everyone, while restricting the private version to a few select conversations where you have qualified the prospect, and judge that the reward is worth the risk. A related thing to do is to partition your offering into a public, open element and a more private, complementary element. The more that the public element is distributed, the greater the demand for the complementary element. And the third thing to do is to analyze the business model of the larger company carefully. Choose the company that has a business model that succeeds if you succeed, and avoid the company whose business model requires stealing from you in order to succeed.
Allow me to provide a short example from my own business experience from the 1980s. I worked in a hard disk drive company, Quantum, that decided to partner with a Japanese organization to manufacture our disk drives. We narrowed our selection to two companies: Kyocera and Matsushita (today Panasonic). Both were quite skilled in manufacturing. But Kyocera sold mostly under its own name, while Matshushita had long-standing OEM manufacturing relationships with many of its customers. Its business model was clearly a better fit for us, whereas Kyocera's model was to use us to learn the business, and then launch their own disk drives.
Greece is an economy dominated by service industry. What advice would you give to managers that aim at developing open service innovation?
I wrote a book in 2011 called Open Services Innovation [author's note: see publication list below] that is all about innovation in services. Openness in services can leverage both economies of scope (one-stop shopping for customers) and/or economies of scale (particularly for back-end processing of transactions). The key is to have a flexible front end facing the customer, connected to a scalable back end that can provide high quality in volume, and becomes cheaper in volume.
Some of your recent research has involved OI and institutions. With instability in the political, legal and tax systems, which has intensified dramatically with the Greek crisis and the three consecutive bailout packages, the Greek institutional context has become increasingly unfavorable to business activity. What advice would you give to managers who need to innovate in this context, characterized also by shrinking local markets?
Greece is in a tough position, and I clearly need to spend more time on its beaches, its islands, and its wonderful streets to study this problem carefully! At the risk of sounding like an out-of-touch scholar from California, my advice would be to start with your best customers, and figure out what their biggest problems are. Then work with them to define a business model that allows you both to grow profitably, perhaps by you doing more for your customer. Knowing your customers very well is a great defense against the large, more impersonal entrants in the market. But you must be willing to improve your own operations, reduce their errors, reduce their costs, and increase their value to your customers.
Finally, what advice would you give policy makers in order to create better conditions for innovation in the Greek context of resource scarcity?
One piece of advice is to develop a strong domestic knowledge base for today's digital economy. Support research in higher education, and provide grants for scholars outside Greece to come study, and similarly support Greek scholars to study outside Greece. In Greece today, more knowledge is moving to digital platforms. Give everyone access to good wifi and internet, and put the government's own accounts on the web. Utilize lower tax rates with higher transparency for economic activity, combined with an amnesty for owed backtaxes, would help get most of the Greek economy into the formal sector, away from the informal sector.
Henry, many thanks for taking time to answer to my questions, it is deeply appreciated and our newsletter could not get a better start!
Eric, thanks for the chance to dialogue with you on this.
Chesbrough, H. and Bogers M. (2014), "Explicating Open Innovation: Clarifying an Emerging Paradigm for Understanding Innovation", in Chesbrough, H., Vanhaverbeke, W. and West, J. (eds.), New Frontiers in Open Innovation, Oxford: Oxford University Press: 3-28.
Dahlander, L. and Gann, D.M. (2010), "How open is innovation?", Research Policy, 39(6): 699-709.
Huizingh, E.K.R.E., (2011), "Open innovation: State of the art and future perspectives", Technovation, 31(1): 2-9.
Huston, L. and Sakkab, N. (2006), "Connect and Develop: Inside Procter & Gamble's New Model for Innovation", Harvard Business Review, March: 58-66.
Laursen K., and Salter, A. (2006), "Open for innovation: the role of openness in explaining innovation performance among U.K. manufacturing firms", Strategic Management Journal, 27(2): 131-150.
Petraite, M., Podmetina, D. and Soderquist, K.E. (2016), "Designing and Developing Organizational Competence for Open Innovation", EURAM Conference 2016, 1-4/06/2016, Paris, France.
"The Dynamics of Open Strategy: From Adoption to Reversion", with Melissa M. Appleyard. Long Range Planning, in press.
"Open Innovation: The Next Decade", with Joel West, Ammon Salter and Wim Vanhaverbeke. Research Policy, 43(5), 2014: 805-811.
Open Services Innovation: Rethinking Your Business to Grow and Compete in a New Era. Jossey-Bass, 2011.
"How Open Innovation Can Help You Cope in Lean Times", with A.R. Garman, Harvard Business Review, December, 2009: 68-76.
"Understanding the Advantages of Open Innovation Practices in Corporate Venturing in Terms of Real Options," with Wim Vanhaverbeke and Vareska Van de Vrande. Creativity and Innovation Management, 17(4), 2008: 251-258.
Open Business Models: How to Thrive in the New Innovation Landscape. Harvard Business School Press, 2006.


The February 17th 2014 issue of Time magazine, with the Infinity Machine on the cover.
"Philip Seymour Hoffman did not die from an overdose of heroin -- he died from heroin." Aaron Sorkin's obituary.
The cover story, Quantum Quest by Lev Grossman (author of two of my favorite fiction novels), reports on everyone's favorite quantum computer, D-Wave. Much like a superpositioned qubit, we haven't yet been able to observe whether D-Wave's computers are the real deal. The story notes that the CIA is investing, but the goverment has invested in lots of wacky ideas.
I'm a little skeptical of how exactly quantum computing will solve the problems it's supposed to, such as (regular) software testing of the sort found in the F-35. Converting all possible error conditions in a program into a traveling salesman problem sounds kind of hard. Perhaps that's just my own ignorance, as later in the article the VP from D-Wave explains that quantum programming is different: "What does it mean to be an answer?" Woah. head explodes.
I've only been tangentially following them, but the D-Wave pitch did come across as kind of shady, relying as it does on they laughed at Einstein; they're laughing at us, therefore we'll succeed style deflection: "The people that really understand what we're doing aren't skeptical." Sure, if you're right, ignoring your detractors is reasonable, but it's also the first thing I'd expect from a snake oil peddler. It's not a particularly reliable signal. The good news is within five years we'll have quantum computers so powerful they'll incontrovertibly prove the theory works. Unless we don't.
Among the ways quantum computing will change everything, I'm most excited about the GDP boost from hyper-personalized advertizing. Prosperity for all!
In other everything is new news, The New Dating Game unlocks the secrets to happy online dating: ditch the endless questions and turn it into a (drinking) game. Unfortunately, they still haven't solved the mystery of "freelance chef" who's actually a fired waiter.
In lighter news, My Doctor, the Concierge is funny. For $10,000 per year, your doctor will chat with you via Skype or Google Hangout. "I admit I was impressed that someone had figured how to monetize Google Hangout." Well said.
B.J. Novak has a book of short stories out, One More Thing.


In addition to the CLA, Praj and Gevo have also entered into a new Joint Development Agreement (JDA) dated 4th April 2019.
PUNE: Praj Industries announced today that it has signed a Construction License Agreement (CLA) with Gevo, Inc, USA dated 4th April 2019, to commercialize technology for the production of Isobutanol using sugary-based feedstocks, such as juice, syrup and molasses. Pursuant to the CLA, Praj will provide Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) services to 3rd parties using a process design package developed by Praj. This package uses Gevo's proprietary Isobutanol biocatalyst on sugary-based feedstock. Isobutanol derived from said proprietary process is high energy renewable intermediate product that finds application in Aviation and Racing cars.
To that effect, Praj also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Gevo Inc. to commercialize Gevo's renewable hydrocarbons products. This includes Gevo's renewable alcohol-to-jet fuel ("ATJ") and renewable isooctane, derived from Gevo's renewable Isobutanol.
Pramod Chaudhari, Executive Chairman of Praj, said, "The addition of Isobutanol technology to Praj's diverse product portfolio is a step in our endeavor towards smart biorefineries that facilitate sustainable decarbonization. This solution can be offered both as a 'bolt-on' to an existing ethanol plant or as a Greenfield plant. We value our partnership with Gevo and believe that this technology will help the aviation industry fulfill their obligation of Green House Gas (GHG) reduction. " He added further that Praj will also pursue development of agri-biomass to Isobutanol as reinforcement of circular bio economy.
This CLA will allow Praj to leverage its extensive customer base to identify those interested in licensing Gevo's technology to produce Isobutanol utilizing the Sugary-based Feedstock. The partnership with Praj provides Gevo with access to markets outside of North America such as India, Southeast Asia, Australia, South America and parts of Europe.
According to the press release, Gevo is a next generation "low-carbon" fuel company focused on the development and commercialization of renewable alternatives to petroleum-based products. Low-carbon fuels reduce the carbon intensity, or the level of greenhouse gas emissions, compared to standard fossil-based fuels across their lifecycle. The most common low-carbon fuels are renewable fuels. Gevo is focused on the development and production of mainstream fuels like gasoline and jet fuel using renewable feedstocks that have the potential to lower greenhouse gas emissions at a meaningful scale and enhance agricultural production, including food and other related products. In addition to serving the low-carbon fuel markets, through Gevo's technology, Gevo can also serve markets to produce chemical intermediate products for solvents, plastics, and building block chemicals. Learn more at our website.


text:
Studies/Reports
New report examines the potato starch market
More in Studies/Reports:
Study finds American diners are willing to pay more for meals that include potatoes January 23, 2023
Global potato statistics: Latest FAO data published January 21, 2023
A new Report explores the global Trends, Manufacturers, Regions, Type and Application, Forecast to 2021 for the Global Starch Market, especially in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, South America, Middle East and Africa. This Report categorizes the market based on manufacturers, regions, type and application. More


for $580,000 with 3 bedrooms and 2 full baths, 1 half bath. This 2,627 square foot home was built in 1992 on a lot size of 0.190 Acres.
Stunning single-story home situated on the 4th fairway of Stonebriar Country Club golf course. This updated custom open floor plan boasts an office with built-ins, music room, two fireplaces, and a chef inspired kitchen with a Viking 6-burner gas range, SubZero, wine cooler, and ice maker. Spacious master suite features an updated spa bath and wall of windows overlooking a sparkling pool and spa. Secondary bedrooms share jack & jill bath. Wood flooring and plantation shutters thru-out.


The former Everton goalkeeper recorded five saves to help the Colorado Rapids secure a 1-1 draw against Steven Gerrard's side.
Leeds may be set to receive an unexpected cash injection.
The former Everton goalkeeper kept a clean sheet on his first game back in MLS since 2003 as the Rapids drew 0-0 at home to the Portland Timbers.
Tim Howard says his MLS debut "can't come soon enough" after he was introduced as a new Colorado Rapids player on Tuesday – and said he was motivated to continue playing because he was "scared to death of failure".
The American goalkeeper left Everton for a return to MLS this summer.
A Carlos Bacca goal saw Jurgen Klinsmann's side fall to a 1-0 defeat in the Copa America Centenario third-place match in Glendale, Arizona.
The 31-year-old started the USA's Copa America opener against Colombia on Friday over Howard despite enduring a nightmare season at Villa.


Get 'A's in your exams!
What's the Best Way to Get Ready for Your Exams? Check Out Our Top Five Study Tips!
Many of you will now be in the thick of the examination period so you'll already be in study mode. We can always improve our study skills, though, so here are some great study tips to help you get the best possible marks!
Group study sessions can be a lot of fun, however if you need to get some serious study done, it's best to study alone, as group sessions can get off-topic quickly and might be covering areas that aren't the most important for you.
Your study zone should be a place that is quiet, comfortable and free from distractions. Just make sure you remove as many distractions in your zone as possible. It's best to have no music on, definitely no television and stay well away from the internet. Oh… and make sure that you turn off your phone! Once you've done an hour or two, you can reward yourself with a few minutes to check Facebook and reply to your text messages!
Get all your study materials together before you get into study mode. Make sure you have all your books, notes, study guides and writing utensils in front of you. If you've got to keep getting up to get things, it means you'll likely get distracted from the task at hand.
Flash cards are an excellent way to test your memory. As you read through important facts, rewrite them in Q&A form on some plain cards. For example, to study historical facts, write the historical fact on one side of the card and the key details on the other side.
To stay sharp while you study, stay away from junk food! Snack on dark leafy greens, whole grains, peanut butter and milk or water. Feeling sluggish? Caffeine or energy drinks won't help you in the long run. Get your energy boost instead by eating a banana or an apple. By all means timetable exercise into your study days; it can help to keep your mind fresh, but don't allow it to become an excuse for staying away from the books!
The team at Crown would like to wish you all the best with your exams this year!
Home > News > Get 'A's in your exams!