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Press ReleasesBeyond Music Volume 1 / Same Sky Hits #1 On iTunes World...All Releases
9 October, 2019Print
Beyond Music Volume 1 / Same Sky Hits #1 On iTunes World Music Chart In U.S. And Top 10 Internationally
First-Of-Its-Kind New Project Born From Beyond Music's Collaboration Platform That Builds A Unique Worldwide Network Of Musician
BEYOND MUSIC Volume One / Same Sky has reached #1 on iTunes' World Music Chart in the United States and is Top 10 internationally in a number of other countries. The first-of-its-kind music project brought together 23 artists from 17 countries, who met and networked through a new online collaborative platform (https://beyondmusic.org) to create a definitive global music album, overseen and produced by 2019 GRAMMY Producer of the Year nominee Larry Klein.
Recently, the project's producer Larry Klein appeared on Southern California's KPFK, as well as KPCC's The Frame to discuss working on the project. Read more at GRAMMY.com and Forbes as well.
Go behind the scenes with all of the musicians and team that brought these songs to life: https://youtu.be/9KaSX8wWGn8
And learn more about the BEYOND MUSIC PROJECT, the artists involved, and the songs here: https://www.beyondmusicproject.org/
The songs on Same Sky were first created via BEYOND MUSIC's online platform (https://beyondmusic.org) that invited musicians from all over the world to collaborate virtually and to go beyond their borders. Behind BEYOND MUSIC is the non-profit Swiss BEYOND FOUNDATION, which aims to bring together cultures of the world through music in order to foster mutual dialogue and respect. It was co-founded by Tina Turner. BEYOND MUSIC received 110 song submissions from artists from 48 countries and 55 genres, and selected 10 winning songs to be recorded for the first volume of what will be an on-going project. The 23 artists behind the 10 winning songs were flown to the famous Studios La Fabrique in southern France, and over the course of 12 days brought their songs to live with Klein, a world-class house band, and world-class engineers.
Listen to the album in full here: https://lnk.site/beyond-music-volume-one-same-sky
Artistic Director and producer of the album Larry Klein assembled the core band, of all-star musicians session players including Dean Parks, Ed Harcourt, Adrian Utley, Manu Katché, Clive Deamer and Dan Lutz, who have collectively played with Sting, Peter Gabriel, Michael Jackson, Patti Smith, Stevie Wonder, Madonna, Radiohead, Portishead and beyond.
BEYOND MUSIC Volume One Same Sky featured artists:
Abdullah Alhussainy, Egypt
Beshar Al Azzawi, Iraq
Mariana Baraj, Argentina
Andreas Bernitt, Denmark
Heather Bond, USA
Moshe Elmakias, Israel
Danielle Eog Makedah, Cameroon
Brice Essomba, Cameroon
Sandro Friedrich, Switzerland
Sheryl Gambo, Congo
Jivan Gasparyan Jr., Armenia
Eduard Glumov, Kazakhstan
Mor Karbasi, Israel
Max Keller Music, Switzerland
Elly Kellner, Netherlands
John Lumpkin II, USA
Syssi Mananga, Belgium/Congo
Kane Mathis, USA
Kate Northrop, USA/Switzerland
Bijayashree Samal, India
Sasha Shlain, Russia
Ingrid White, Cameroon
Msafiri Zawose, Tanzania
About BEYOND MUSIC:
BEYOND MUSIC, www.beyondmusic.org, is an online platform that invites professional musicians, singers, composers and songwriters from all genres to collaborate worldwide. Cross-genre, cross-culture, cross-generation. The platform is financed by the Swiss BEYOND FOUNDATION, established in 2007 by the couple Regula and Beat Curti, a registered non-profit organization, supporting projects that unite cultures through music in order to foster cross-cultural understanding, awareness, dialog and respect. With their projects, the BEYOND FOUNDATION wants musicians from all over the world to inspire each other, to work together and to create a worldwide team spirit of togetherness and compassion.
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Home Highlights This World Disability Day, ITC Vivel Partners with AltMuseum to Make Art...
This World Disability Day, ITC Vivel Partners with AltMuseum to Make Art Accessible to the Visually-Impaired on Instagram
National, December 4, 2020: Instagram is one of the most popular social networks worldwide. This visual medium is not just a photo gallery anymore – it has transformed into a platform for creative expression, engagement and even a source of income for many. Vivel, in an inclusive step forward, enables the visually-impaired to explore a visual social medium like Instagram, with AltMuseum. The AltMuseum enables a simple functionality of alt-text available on Instagram to introduce a creative experience for the visually impaired. With the talk-back setting on Androids and Voiceover feature in iOS enabled, a creative coded in Alt-text helps in describing the visual through an audio narrative.
ITC Vivel, with its Voice of Art initiative, becomes the first brand to partner with the platform to make the message of empowerment more inclusive. AltMuseum is the world's first digital art museum that helps bridge the gap between art and its accessibility for specially-abled people with the use of technology.
Art since time immemorial has been a powerful medium of expression to empower and to inspire. ITC Vivel with its philosophy of Ab Samjhauta Nahin embarked on a unique and celebratory journey about gender and its stereotypes through its Voice of Art initiative earlier this year. It brought together a large collective of young artists to weave a new age narrative on Equality through Art. The brand has worked tirelessly to build a strong community contact programme over the last four years to take its Ab Samjhauta Nahin message to every strata of society. With this collaboration, it ensures an inclusive outreach.
With this Alt Museum partnership, the brand has laid the foundation for a more inclusive and impactful digital space for the visually impaired. The content on the platform has also been made available to the students under the aegis of the National Association for the Blind (NAB). Provisions have also been made for smartphones to be provided to a set of visually impaired students at NAB, ensuring that nothing holds them back from accessing quality education and lead their lives in an empowered manner. Pradnya Upadhye, Director Education, National Association for the Blind, India, said, "This is simple but so powerful! Vivel Voice of Art on Alt Museum is truly empowering. It not only helps explore creatives but also enables an inclusive experience of a visual medium like Instagram."
Schbang for Good, the impact communications wing of Schbang, focused on driving social change, launched the Alt Museum handle on Instagram earlier this year. Riya Parekh, Group Creative Manager, Schbang for Good, said, "With the world getting locked into their homes, we witnessed a rise in consumption of content across digital platforms, but why should entertainment and art be restricted to the abled population of the world? The Alt-Museum was the outcome of this simple question. We identified the Instagram feature and latched onto the most visually-celebrated, World Photography Day to talk to the visually impaired. We are grateful to have progressive partners like Vivel who are constantly striving to use arts to push the world in a better direction. With the empowering initiative, Vivel #VoiceOfArt, it not only helps reimagine a more equitable world but also takes a step forward to make creatives a more inclusive experience for all."
Vivel Ab Samjhauta Nahin with its unique Know Your Rights initiative is working extensively with colleges across India to empower everyone with the knowledge of rights and build equality champions across the nation. More than 700 colleges have experienced the workshop co-created with one of the most renowned legal authorities in India, Karuna Nundy and around one lakh students have actively participated in the workshops that began its outreach in 2019.
Vivel has also collaborated with Azad Foundation India to launch 'Parvaz' a feminist leadership programme to empower women and transform communities. The project in its third year now has already introduced more than 40 community leaders in the last two years who have helped transform the lives of more than 60,000 women in big ways and small.
Check out the digital art museum here.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Simplifies this enumeration to a union of singleton nominals.
Gets the operands as a list.
Gets the individuals that are in the oneOf.
Gets the individuals that are in the oneOf. These individuals represent the exact instances (extension) of this class expression.
The individiauls that are the values of this ObjectOneOf class expression.


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Q: Strange behavior with Websockets, HTTPSessions and Chrome I am seeing very odd behavior with Chrome and websockets, with respect to HTTPSessions.
It seems that in Chrome each tabs has its own HTTPSession (unlike Firefox where they all share the same HTTPSession).  But, when to connect to a WebSocket from JavaScript in Chrome inside a webpage, the HTTPSession that is uses seems to be random, or at least not always the one from the current page.
The behavior I'm seeing on the server (tomcat) is that sometimes the HTTPSession is null (or an old session the server doesn't know anything about), or the HTTPSession from another tab.
This seems to be some kind of bug in Chrome, Firefox never has any issues, and always gives the HTTPSession from the page.
This is related to this post on getting an HTTPSession from a WebSocket in Tomcat.
Can anyone confirm this, or know any workarounds to get the HTTPSession from a WebSocket?
Accessing HttpSession from HttpServletRequest in a Web Socket @ServerEndpoint

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


News "Holidays in Southern Brittany"
To prepare your vacation and discover Carnac and its area, the Carnac tourist office propose its 2015 travel magazine.
During your stay at La Baie campsite, go for a day on the island of Hoedic.
During your holidays at campsite La Baie, take time for a little trip to the Island of Groix !
The Peninsula of Rhuys, between the Gulf of Morbihan and the Bay of Quiberon, a video filmed by drone.
You will appreciate the port of Saint Goustan in Auray, located less than 15 kilometers from La Baie campsite.
La Baie Campsite is a 4 star campsite , located between La Trinité sur Mer and Carnac, facing the Bay of Quiberon.
Unforgettable visit to discover more about the world of sailing.
Brittany offers treasures to discover, not only by the sea !


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Question: What Do Scotland Eat?
1 What kind of food do the Scottish eat?
2 What is a typical Scottish lunch?
3 What can you eat and drink in Scotland?
4 What do they eat in Scotland for breakfast?
5 What is the most eaten food in Scotland?
6 What is the most popular drink in Scotland?
7 What do they call dinner in Scotland?
8 What time is dinner in Scotland?
9 What is Scotland's national drink?
10 Do you tip in Scotland?
11 What should I buy in Scotland?
12 What is Scotland famous for?
13 What is the best time to go to Scotland?
14 What time is breakfast in Scotland?
What kind of food do the Scottish eat?
Traditional Scottish suppers include Aberdeen Angus beef, roast lamb, venison and haggis. Haggis, a savory pudding, is Scotland's national dish immortalized by famous poet Robert Burns. Haggis is made from the minced entrails and internal organs of sheep, pigs or cows, and mixed with suet, oatmeal and seasoning.
What is a typical Scottish lunch?
Although typically served with haggis, neeps and tatties are featured in many Scottish dishes. Just to clarify, 'neeps' are turnips and 'tatties' are potatoes. In Scotland, neeps and tatties go together like peas and carrots.
What can you eat and drink in Scotland?
36 Scottish Food and Drink You Must Try. Rabbie.
Arbroath Smokies. urbanfishwife.
Fish Supper. Also known as Fish n' Chips, this fried fish in batter with a side portion of deep-fried chips has become a staple meal in the UK.
Hand-Dived West Coast Scallops. Instagram.
Smoked Salmon.
Aberdeen Angus Beef.
Haggis.
You might be interested: Quick Answer: Which Tribe Of Israel Migrated Through Scotland?
What do they eat in Scotland for breakfast?
So, what is in a Scottish breakfast? Ingredients vary from place to place, but the basic ingredients to a traditional Scottish breakfast include square lorne sausage, link sausages, fried egg, streaky bacon, baked beans, black pudding and/or haggis, tattie scones, fried tomatoes and mushrooms, and toast.
What is the most eaten food in Scotland?
Traditional food & drink Scotland's national dish is haggis, a savoury meat pudding, and it's traditionally accompanied by mashed potatoes, turnips (known as 'neeps') and a whisky sauce.
What is the most popular drink in Scotland?
The Irn-Bru 32 energy drink variant was launched in 2006. Irn-Bru has long been the most popular soft drink in Scotland, with Coca-Cola second, but competition between the two brands has brought their sales to roughly equal levels as of 2003.
What do they call dinner in Scotland?
Some people in Britain refer to their main evening meal as "tea" rather than dinner or supper.
What time is dinner in Scotland?
Lunch is generally 12 – 2pm and dinner from around 5/ 5.30pm to 9 or 11pm. You'll also find plenty places where you can have a meal all day long.
What is Scotland's national drink?
What is Scotland's national drink? Whisky! (Although IRN BRU likes to think of itself as Scotland's 'other national drink ' too).
Do you tip in Scotland?
There is no expectation of tipping in Scotland of, for example, serving staff in pubs, when only drinks are being ordered at the bar. (At least, there is no expectation of a gratuity, though that doesn't mean it doesn't happen.) Serving staff in shops are generally not tipped.
You might be interested: Where Was St Andrew Of Scotland Born?
What should I buy in Scotland?
10 Unique Scottish Souvenirs To Buy in Edinburgh
Whisky. As the perfect Scottish souvenir, whisky requires zero introduction.
Tartan umbrellas. Given Scotland's tendency for sudden downpours, it is wise to have a 'brolly' (umbrella) on hand at all times.
Mementoes of Greyfriars Bobby.
Cashmere, tweeds and knits.
What is Scotland famous for?
Scotland is known for its rich varieties of whisky. Visiting one of the 109 distilleries is a fantastic way to taste the country's national drink during your time in Scotland. Historically, the production of Scottish whisky dates back to the 11th century.
What is the best time to go to Scotland?
The best time to visit Scotland is during spring (late March to May) and fall (September to November). Temperatures are warmer by spring, with averages of 43°F-59°F, although there will still be snow in the mountains of the Highlands and the Cairngorms.
What time is breakfast in Scotland?
Breakfast – between 7:00 and 9:00, Dinner (The main meal) – between 12:00 and 1:30 p.m. Tea – anywhere from 5:30 at night to 6:30 p.m.
FAQ: What Happens When You Die Without A Will In Scotland?
Question: When To Avoid Midges In Scotland?
Readers ask: When Will Scotland Become Independent?
FAQ: What Is The Main Geologic Feature For Which Siccar Point In Scotland Is Famous?
FAQ: How Many People Live In Scotland?


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Zavareh-ye Saland Kuh (, also Romanized as Zavarah-ye Sāland Kūh) is a village in Sardasht Rural District, Sardasht District, Dezful County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 82, in 15 families.

References

Populated places in Dezful County

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Container Corp Of Ind Ltd Share Price
CONCOR EQ
About Container Corp Of Ind Ltd
Container Corporation of India Limited (CONCOR) was incorporated in 1988. The company is committed to providing responsive, cost-effective, efficient, and reliable logistics solutions to its customers. It strives to be the first choice for its customers. The company is a customer-focused, performance-driven, result-oriented organization, focused on providing value for money to its customers. The company developed multimodal logistics support for India's international and domestic containerization and trade. The company's core business is characterized by three distinct activities that of a carrier, a terminal operator, and a warehouse operator.
Wed, Jan 12 655.00 656.60 0.24%
Mon, Jan 10 635.05 645.35 1.60%
Dec 2020 54.8 %
Mar 2021 54.8 %
Mar 2021 24 %
Jun 2021 7.2 %
Sep 2021 5.3 %
Mar 2021 4.7 %
How do I buy Container Corp Of Ind Ltd share in Upstox?
How to calculate brokerage for trading in shares of Container Corp Of Ind Ltd?
How to check the open price and close price of Container Corp Of Ind Ltd?
What data can we get from Container Corp Of Ind Ltd graph?
How to check the weekly and monthly closing prices of Container Corp Of Ind Ltd?
How to buy shares of Container Corp Of Ind Ltd on mobile devices?
Sign up to invest in Container Corp Of Ind Ltd and 5000+ stocks


Sinn Féin Mid Ulster MLA, Emma Sheerin, has this week spoken out ahead of the upcoming local election to urge people who won't be at home on polling day to request a postal or proxy vote.
Ms Sheerin said: "During elections, I am always contacted by people who are working abroad or on holiday, and haven't made arrangements to secure a postal or proxy vote in time for polling day, usually because they didn't know that they could.
"Applications for postal and proxy votes will be accepted until April 10, which gives people a good opportunity to secure their vote in this way if they know that they are going to be unable to vote in person on May 2.
"We have the unfortunate reality in rural areas that an awful lot of people are forced to go abroad on a weekly basis to work, meaning that they will miss the day of the election, falling on Thursday, May 2.
"This should not exclude anyone from having their voice heard at the ballot box.
"You are entitled to a postal or proxy vote if you are ill, on holiday abroad, or working or studying away from home. The application process consists of a simple form that can be downloaded from the electoral office website, any Sinn Féin activist will be happy to help with the filling of this.


When Gabriel wheeled into clinic, he had given up the idea he would ever be able to use his feet again. His legs were red, swollen and blistered. His feet were a yellowish gray. He couldn't move them. They felt like plastic lumps at the bottom of his legs to him. He suffered from both diabetic neuropathy and poor blood flow.
Gabriel's diabetes had taken a heavy toll on his body and his spirits. He slumped despondently in his chair. He had a lost look in his eyes. He was sullen and short tempered but he was here. Our clinic was, to him, a last chance to save him from surgery. His doctor told him they were playing the waiting game until his feet worsened enough to justify amputation. He'd seen other diabetics lose their feet. He knew it was a slippery slope he might not recover from.
Our clinic nurse set to work with him right away. The herbal team had a pre-brewed tea containing calendula and a few other herbs to fortify the foot baths we offered. The nurse was a little skeptical about the viable use of herbs in a clinic setting such as ours, but she was willing to work with what we had to offer. She was an experienced wound care nurse. She rarely saw recovery when feet were as bad as Gabriel's were. The herbs, in her opinion, couldn't hurt. It certainly followed the "do no harm" model of medicine.
As Gabriel soaked, he began to brighten. He watched the staff flutter around as we attended to other patients. He began to loosen up and share his own stories.
After his feet were dried, the nurse coated his legs with a calendula salve. The calendula salve had a short list of ingredients: calendula, almond oil, beeswax and a few drops of essential oil. Petroleum bases simply coat the skin. Beeswax and natural oils soak in and bring the power of herbal healing to the core. Calendula salve was easy and effective relief for his diabetic leg ulcers. The topical treatment was coupled with internal supplements and dietary suggestions.
Gabriel showed up every week for his foot treatments. He was a joy to be with. He greeted us all with a smile and engaged those who had to wait for care in interesting conversations. In a month, the nurse pulled me aside.
"Did you see Gabriel's feet today?" She asked excitedly.
Our nurse beamed with pleasure, then hurried back to her station. She stopped halfway back to the tent with her wound care supplies and turned.
Calendula was turning her into an herbalist as well.


Finally Using Fibre Broadband at my house.
I am using M1 Fibre Broadband at my house. Download speed and upload speed had improved a lot, experience many overseas web sites downloading files or video streaming much faster compare to Singnet ADSL and Starhub Cable modem. I had been using for a month and the connection was very stable in fact compare to Singnet ADSL and Starhub Cable modem. The reason may be due to there are less subscriber for M1 compare to Singnet and Starhub to enjoy greater speed improvement which exclude the three new provider as below.
In Singapore we have six Internet Service Provider which is Singnet, Starhub, M1, Viewqwest, MyRepublic, SuperInternet. These three provider Viewqwest, MyRepublic, SuperInternet are new in the market for Fibre Broadband but they do offer one static IP address service for home usage. As since these are pretty new I would not want to consider getting them due to their billing issue need to go through such as GIRO or auto monthly debit method like debit or credit card as they are still exploring various methods of other payment mode. They may provide High speed stable connection as time goes by I not very sure also as they are new to the market.
In these six provider, the cheapest deal is still M1. I get it with a promotion of S$45 with free mobile broadband and a fixed voice line of 100Mbps download / 50Mbps upload with no cap on International bandwidth. As my area need to use to rent a residential wireless gateway for S$2.14 monthly to enjoy free fixed voice line, I did not subscribe to it and prefer using my own wireless router better. I did not encounter any issue of disconnection at all and WAN IP public auto assign address did not change for over 23 days online currently as I typing these post.
The above link is not working now. Will not resolve it now.


You've probably seen one before. A color swatch from a company called Pantone.
Originally a paint company founded in 1963 by Lawrence Herbert, its mission soon became making a system of identifying, matching and communicating colors so that they were consistent across the print and textile design industries.
This led to the Pantone matching system, a book that's now standard across these fields, as well as digital design. And it's a system made up of the iconic colored swatches we know today.
But there's another way in which Pantone has established its relevance, an occasion that happens each December: the sometimes influential, sometimes controversial announcement of the "Color of the Year".
First done in the year 2000, the color of the year influences the decisions designers, brands and regular people make in the colors they use over the next twelve months. Or is it these people that influence the choice of color the company picks?
Each year, in around March, Pantone's Color Institute starts the process of identifying candidates for its color of the year.
The decision-making committee travels to London, Paris and Milan with extra trips tacked onto the side to get a sense of the colors appearing a lot in these influential cities.
"You start to notice certain colors getting more attention in the fashion field [first]," Laurie Pressman, Vice President of the Pantone Color Institute tells Glamour.
The committee then studies the psychology of these colors to discover their influence on human thought processes, emotions and physical reactions.
They analyse how the colors interact with other colors. They look at the art world and take into account certain colors being shown in a collection that will travel the world, and they observe the colors being used for products produced by notable brands.
Interestingly, the committee's choice is rarely a new color. Pantone update their color library every 2 and a half years, which helps them stay ahead of trends.
Yet, trending though they might be, the color institute's annual choice is often controversial.
In 2013, when it picked emerald green as the color of the year, people either liked it or hated it, according to Pressman. The previous year's choice, in 2012, of Tangerine Tango prompted an orange averse woman to call her to express her distaste.
But, "Even if you have a knee-jerk reaction to it, if you see it appearing on a website or in a store window or an anchor wearing it on television, you start to pick up on it and think, OK, hmm, maybe I need to get something…." with emerald green in it," Pressman says.
And the choice of color of the year is more than just a reflection of colors we're starting to see, it can reflect what's needed at the time.
The company's 2016 choice or choices of Rose Quartz and Serenity was a response to the rising use of what's now widely known as "millennial pink", and a reflection of society's increased blurring of gender norms, with pink, once known as a boy's color, and blue being being worn by a younger demographic interchangeably.
2017's choice of Greenery was a reaction to the 2016 US presidential election result and the need for renewal. And 2018's choice of Ultra Violet continued in that vein "communicating originality, ingenuity and visionary thinking pointing toward the future," according to Pantone's website.
While it's hard to define how tangibly Pantone's color of the year affects the choices designers and brands make in the long-term, particularly knowing there'll be some other color chosen in another twelve months, you will definitely see it popping up on products, at least on the day it's announced. In recent years, Pantone has partnered with a number of brands to help market its chosen color of the year.
Advertising agency, Sub Rosa, has worked with the color company since 2013 to market the color of the year, primarily through press and the creative community. A lot of that marketing comes through brand partnerships who will often release limited runs of products in that year's chosen color, which sometimes out performs a brand's regular hues.
But, apart from Cerulean, a color whose name, once uttered by Meryl Streep's character, takes center stage in a pivotal scene of The Devil Wears Prada, I can't for the life of me say I've had many run-ins with other previous colors of the year.
The chicken and egg question still stands: how much impact does Pantone's color of the year have on the real world and does the real world have on it? I'm still not sure.
But what I do know is that every December brands, designers and influencers take notice of and start conversations around a little swatch representing a particular hue and a former paint company called Pantone.


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BUSINESS: ICYMI
Safilo Group Acquires 61.34 Percent of Privé Revaux
Monday, February 10, 2020 10:00 AM
Privé Revaux founder, David Schottenstein, seated, with celebs (l to r) Hailee Steinfeld, Jamie Foxx, Jeremy Piven, and Ashley Benson.
PADUA, Italy and MIAMI—Safilo Group S.p.A (Reuters SFLG.MI ) has announced the acquisition of a 61.34 percent equity interest in the Miami-based company Prive Goods, LLC, which operates Privé Revaux. The company said that the deal was signed and closed today. David Schottenstein, Privé Revaux's founding entrepreneur and CEO retains ownership of approximately 15.5 percent of the equity, while the remainder is held by celebrities Jamie Foxx, Hailee Steinfeld and Ashley Benson (who are co-founders and partners), senior management of the company, and certain other investors. Private equity fund TSG Consumer Partners and its affiliates sold their entire stake in Privé Revaux to Safilo Group and other equity holders of the company.
Founded in 2017, Privé Revaux is a fast-growing U.S. eyewear brand fueled by "a strategic celebrity ecosystem," as the announcement described it, bringing in high caliber social media engagement and strong digital marketing which has gained traction with consumers. Privé Revaux was built on a shared passion for style and quality with the goal of disrupting the eyewear industry and making premium, quality eyewear products accessible to everyone.
In an interview with VMAIL just minutes after the announcement today, Angelo Trocchia, Safilo Group CEO and David Schottenstein,founder, Prive Revaux, talked about the mutual benefits of the deal to both companies as they "learn and grow" from each other, with an eye toward working together, first in the U.S. and soon, internationally. Schottenstein will remain CEO of Privé Revaux which will continue to run out of its Miami headquarters.
Trocchia told VMAIL, "We have been looking to build a 'new' Safilo as we've discussed in our four-year strategic plan. And when I met David and the team at Privé Revaux, we started talking and realized rather quickly that we can learn so many things from each other. Privé Revaux is achieving a modern way of speaking to the consumer, its use of social networking and celebrity influencers is a micro system that will add tremendous value. At the same time, Safilo can be a very supportive resource to their goals."
Trocchia emphasized, "David and his team will continue to be based in Miami and will run the show. Safilo will support them in many ways, they have the resources of our know-how and our experience in 40 countries, but there will not be any disruption in their positioning or their ideas of creating excitement for this brand."
Schottenstein noted, "You know our energy and pace of working. And I think Angelo takes the same approach to Safilo. Working together is going to be an exciting journey."
Privé Revaux has extended its assortment of affordable and quality frames beyond traditional sunglasses into blue light blocking glasses to combat digital eye strain and has brought their unique, fashion-forward perspective to reading glasses. The company distributes through a broad set of channels and retail partners, both online and offline. Privé Revaux has an exclusive partnership this year with American's Best on a collection of optical frames, as VMAIL reported last month. And last fall, the company discussed with VMAIL the expansion of the company's executive team and its celebrity capsule collections.
Since inception, Privé Revaux has carefully curated relationships with celebrities who wear and endorse its products. Catering to a diverse fan base, the brand has leveraged its celebrity appeal to new customers through a distinctive capsule collection program of co-branded styles designed by major celebrity influencers, and is continually adding to its roster of talent with new collections seasonally.
In 2019 Privé Revaux recorded net sales of approximately $20 million, an increase of 90 percent compared to the previous year, and plans to continue strongly growing in 2020. Kavanagh Consulting acted as advisors to Privé Revaux on the deal.
Trocchia said, "We are very pleased to enrich our proprietary brand portfolio with Privé Revaux, a fast-growing U.S.-origin brand, which contributes a millennial-focused digital marketing strategy and whose mission is to offer affordable, high-quality, beautifully designed eyewear, using celebrities' endorsements to drive brand awareness and sales. Privé Revaux has successfully created a repeatable and scalable strategy with celebrity capsule programs that can be introduced into various markets around the world, a consumer-centric marketing model from which we can learn and leverage on, while putting our capabilities at its disposal for its global expansion."
Schottenstein stated, "This is a monumental moment for Privé Revaux, and a true turning point in our business. We have worked tirelessly to bring consumers tangible quality and style when it comes to eyewear, at a fair and reasonable price and Safilo believes in our vision and goal. I couldn't be prouder of what this brand has accomplished in only a few short years, and with Safilo in our corner, the sky's the limit."
"When we started Privé Revaux we knew we were going to shake things up, we just didn't realize how quickly and to what extent," added Jamie Foxx, partner and co-founder. "Now, with Safilo's know-how and expertise, we can turbo charge this and take it to a completely different level, on a global scale.
"Getting together with a company like Safilo is truly an honor and really says a lot about who we are as a brand. Looking at our opportunities, both in terms of continuing to grow Privé Revaux and in terms of really helping to grow Safilo's existing brands, it is obvious to me that this made sense and was meant to be. I am so excited for the coming years and am very much looking forward to working with Safilo," said Hailee Steinfeld, partner and co-founder, Privé Revaux.
"We live in a fast-changing world, specifically a fast-changing retail world. Clearly Safilo has the vision to see that Privé Revaux can help Safilo create something new in eyewear and I very much look forward to being a part of that," said Ashley Benson, partner and co-founder, Privé Revaux.
The overall consideration for the 61.34 percent controlling interest in the company is $67.5 million (corresponding to €61.6 million at the exchange rate on the announcement date), the announcement said.The equity interests held by David Schottenstein and the other minority equity holders are subject to customary reciprocal put and call options which can be exercised starting from 2023.
The acquisition has been financed partially through a loan provided by Safilo's reference shareholder, Multibrands Italy B.V., controlled by HAL Holding N.V., and for the remaining portion through available resources. With respect to the company's communication on Dec. 9, 2019, the financing contract approved by Safilo's board of directors on Dec. 1, 2019 has been replaced by a new single financing contract entered into between Safilo S.p.A. and Multibrands Italy B.V on Feb. 6, 2020 for a total amount of €90 million. This single loan agreement is aimed at financing in part, for €30 million, the acquisition of Privé Revaux, and at fully financing the acquisition of Blenders Eyewear LLC, as communicated to the market on Dec. 9, 2019, upon its closing date and previously reported by VMAIL.
The loan is subordinated to Safilo Group's existing financing signed in October 2018 with its lending banks. The loan executed with Multibrands Italy B.V. represents a "transaction with a related party of greater importance" as the Equivalent-value relevance ratio (i.e. the ratio between the counter value of the loan and the consolidated shareholders' equity as of June 30, 2019) is above the threshold of 5 percent, the announcement said. As such, the execution of the loan agreement has been approved by the Safilo board on Feb. 6, 2020 upon the favourable opinion of the Related Parties Committee dated Feb.4, 2020, on the interest of the group in entering the loan and on the convenience and substantial fairness of the relevant terms and conditions.
The required informative document will be made available within the timeframe provided for by the law, Safilo said.
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OpenOffice Writer
Development of open office
OpenOffice Calc
Linux operating system
Linux OS review
Mozilla open source
Mozilla is best known for its free software like the Mozilla Firefox, the Firefox OS and the Thunderbird. Mozilla Firefox is a web browser that can be used in any desktop supported by any OS. Like ways Firefox OS is also a web browser but it can be used in all kinds of mobile devices.
Thunderbird is an emailing service that differs from other mailing services in that it is safe, fast and easy to use. It is a free software community and it releases the source code of its products as an open source. Open source means that the source code is publicly available, which facilitates the study, modification and improvement of the software. Actually, open source software is an example of the open source development project.
Open source development consists of several phases. Phases are framed using meta- modelling and meta- process modelling techniques. Open software is developed by either starting a new project or by adopting an existing project. There are several types of open source software. Garden variety of software programs and libraries and distributions are two most common types of open source software. Firefox Web browser falls in the first category.
These are standalone codes and may depend on other open source projects. On the other hand, Distributions are collections of software that are developed for the same purpose from a constant source. An example of a distribution is the operating system. A large number of software for Linux operating system are developed this way. Mozilla provides developer tools, which makes it easy for the users to modify the Mozilla products; however they want it to be. Mozilla also provides with Bugzilla and Firebug to assist developers. Studies reveal that open source software models have helped customers save a huge amount of money every year.
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Surviving Bad Clients and Bad Partners
This week, Shawn Busse and Paul Downs talk about what they've learned from their worst client experiences. Shawn, for example, tells us that he's come to think about taking on a client much the way he thinks about hiring an employee. And Paul stresses the importance of watching what he says about difficult clients to his employees, because he doesn't want to encourage a cynical attitude. From bad clients, our conversation shifts to bad partnerships. Even though their own partnerships ended poorly, both Shawn and Paul emphasize that having a partner can be invaluable in getting a business off the ground. In fact, Paul says he might even consider taking on a partner again. Plus, both Shawn and Paul explain why all the talk of recession is not giving them second thoughts about their ambitious marketing plans.
Paul Downs is CEO of Paul Downs Cabinetmakers.
Welcome, Shawn and Paul. It's great to have you guys here. How are you doing? What's going on? Paul?
It's hot. [Laughter]
Well, it's gonna be like 100 today, and my shop floor is not air conditioned. And the people are out there working hard. And it's just hard. We do let them take breaks whenever they want.
That's good. [Laughter]
Well, that doesn't happen in every place.
I'm sure you're right.
We have a fairly air conditioned office, and they can come in and be in here and get cold water, but it's just not much fun to be doing physical work on a day like today.
Do you know how hot it gets on the floor? Or do you not want to know?
Mid-90s. I mean, part of it is possibly self-inflicted. We have these huge fans that we installed that blow a lot of air into the shop. And if I were running the shop, what I would do would be run them at night and turn them off in the morning. And I've explained this to my people, but they don't seem to really buy into that theory. So they run it all day too and blow 100-degree air right into the shop. And I've given up on trying to control that, because they're out there, so they get to live with it.
Paul, you said, "If I were running the shop." Aren't you kind of running the shop?
No, I'm not kind of running the shop. I have a shop manager who runs the shop. And I don't believe in me running around trying to micromanage the team, so I let him run the shop. And then there are 20-some people out there. I mean, they can make decisions themselves about whether to have a fan on or not. I don't think I need to get involved with that. I've made my theories clear. They've rejected them. They're living with the results. They get to stand there in the hot air. It's not me. So no, I'm not going to overrule them.
How are you doing, Shawn?
We're doing all right. Yeah, we've had a heatwave here too. But it's finally cooling off a little bit before another one. Yeah, I don't have air conditioning in my shop either. But it's got pretty good insulation, and I adhere to Paul's strategy: Turn on the fan at night; turn it off during the day. It works. It really does. I can be a testimonial for your team, although they probably won't listen to me either.
I'll fly you in. You can bark at them all day. [Laughter] You'll see you'll see what happens, which is nothing.
All right. So today, I want to talk about difficult clients. I know you've both had experience in this area. Paul, I think you've had one in particular of late. Want to tell us about it?
Well, I'm going to tell you in broad terms. I actually don't really want to focus on this particular person, other than to say that I've done a lot of jobs, and I've been in this business for a lot of years. And one of the people on this client's team is, without a doubt, the single worst and most difficult person we've ever had to deal with—a woman who won't make a decision when needed to make a decision, and lies and prevaricates and passes blame. And it's been a real problem all the way through.
And I will back it off a little bit and say that if you do a thousand jobs, one of them is going to be the best, and one of them is going to be the worst. And one of the things that I've noticed about the ones that are the worst is that they kind of drag you down with them. So here we have a very difficult client who is kind of resisting our efforts to operate the way we operate. And that's thrown us off our game. And then also, of a thousand jobs, one's going to have good luck and one's going to have bad luck. And I've noticed that there's a connection between bad clients, bad decisions, and bad luck. So some things that have happened on this job weren't a result of a decision by anybody—just bad luck. And it happened to land in this job because this one's already in the toilet.
And that, I think, is the most frustrating thing to deal with as a business owner, when you're trying your best to get out of a bad situation and then some lightning strike just makes everything worse. And you're trying to explain to the client all the things you did, but you can't really explain why the bad luck arrived, other than to say, "Well, okay, so that happened."
I'll tell you what it was, in this case. One part of this job was a desk for a CEO, and the desk had a piece of marble as the top. We were delivering the job, and when we opened up the truck, when we got to the job site, the marble had just cracked in half—a $6,000 piece of stone. And it had been packed correctly. We've moved marble hundreds of times. There's no reason on Earth this thing should have broken in half. But then when we opened up the truck and needed to pull it out and put it in his office, "Oh, we're sorry. It's broken in half."
Like, who could even expect that? But I don't know, Shawn, have you ever had that, where something starts to go wrong, and then it seems to attract even more bad luck? And it just gets worse? And you can't get out of it?
Yeah, I mean, it's sort of like in my world where… a good example is building a website. Like where you've built hundreds of websites and you've got things figured out: You have a process, you do things, and then something happens. The Russians decide they want to put malware on the thing, right as you're launching it. Yes, there's some correlation between difficult clients and bad things happening to you. I've seen it.
Yeah, and the opposite doesn't happen either. You get bad clients, and then it's never suddenly like you stumble on a box full of $100 bills or something while you're doing the delivery. There's never good luck that comes along and saves you. That never happens. I mean, there's good luck in a lot of ways. And there are good clients who can swing with the punches. But when things go over the edge, in my experience, it's just a disaster.
Paul, can you give us a better sense of what would make a job the worst job of all that you've done, or the worst client of all that you've had? And how do you try to deal with it?
We try to identify people who we think need extra attention as early as possible in the process. It's very unusual for us to just reject a client before a sale. Like to say, "Oh, you're impossible. Go away." We just don't do that. And in this case, we went through a fairly long process with this client, and we knew it was difficult. And the things that we have done that contributed to the problems have mostly been the result of bad luck or trying to get ahead of decisions that needed to be made that the client would not make.
Like, they want this stuff at the end of the day, but there's somebody holding up the process. And so we would edge into making decisions that we would normally leave to a client. And that caused problems. And then this particular client also did something which I've never seen before, which is we send samples out of finishes and say, "Here, this is what it's going to be. Approve it, don't approve it, whatever. And if you don't like any of them, we'll make more." Well, this client approved a sample of a very complicated finish. And then when we delivered it, she said, "Oh, I don't like this. Take it back." And, "Well, wait, you approved it." She said, "I just approved it because I wanted to see it. I didn't really like it." Can you believe that?
You're saying that this happened after you delivered the finished product?
Well, just to make this better, this is the other half of the desk that the top had cracked in half. Those two conversations happened within 10 minutes of each other.
Oh, God. I like how you started out saying, I don't want to get into the specifics.
The specifics are the best part.
The specifics are pretty bad, in this case. And there's just tremendous expense involved in trying to do this. So that's my horror story. And now I will say that the number of bad clients to the number of good clients is something like one to 900. We deal with all kinds of people, and a lot of them we never meet face-to-face. And I would say the vast majority of our clients are wonderful to work with, trying very hard to make a success of the project.
And one of the things that I find, as a business owner, I have to constantly watch myself to not complain about the bad clients to the team and let that poison the approach to people and get away from that trusting environment. Because, yeah, there are bad people, but we have to go into every project with an open mind and a good attitude, and this is going to be fine, and these people are going to be good. And all of the evidence suggests that's true.
But there's something about human nature that makes you want to bitch about the worst people and sort of spread that poison around. And I believe that if the employees see the boss doing that, they start to get a more cynical attitude. And it becomes a cancer. And it's really easy to let it go, because as a business owner, you understand not only just the frustration of the situation, but you understand what it's costing you, too. And it's really hard to not let it fly. And when you've reached your limit, and you can't explain it to the wife and kids, the people who are in the shop with you know everything that's going on. They understand. But I still have to keep myself from going overboard on complaints, because I don't want to poison the atmosphere. I don't know, Shawn, have you ever run into anything like that?
I think that's really good advice, because you lose a lot of sleep, as an owner, when you run into these situations. As I've gotten older, these situations happen less and less and less. And I think part of that is a function of, as you get better at—like you said, you identify clients early on who need more hand-holding or more help or are more risky. I think one of those intangible values of becoming a more experienced business owner is seeing that earlier and not being surprised by it.
Paul, you said that there were some red flags that this was going to be a difficult client. What would you do differently, if you had it to do over?
I would keep my team from trying to get ahead of the decisions that the client should have made. That was the thing that was self inflicted, that caused certain problems.
You made those decisions, because you wanted to keep the project on track.
We wanted to keep the job moving along. But, I mean, I didn't make the decisions I'm talking about. This was project managers saying, "Okay, they're going to choose this or that, and let's just get started on it." And one of the things that we did, actually a few years ago—not in response to this client—we started to really formalize the idea that certain jobs need what we call "enhanced review."
And so in our ERP software, where you're looking at the whole list of jobs, there are several that are very clearly flagged as enhanced review. And then right next to that little flag, there's a notes thing that says what the problem might be. And sometimes the client is fine, and it's just that it's a situation where it's technically difficult, or it's something new, or whatever. And we can just put that in there as enhanced review. And sometimes it's a straightforward warning: "This client is trouble. Make sure that everything is perfect. Just be on your guard at all moments." We have another one that we're doing right now where the client is troublesome, and we've sort of made that clear to the team.
Part of it is: How big is the job? So the current troublesome guy is a $10,000 job. So if worse came to worse, I would just hand him all his money back and say, "Here, go away." The previous one—the one I started off talking about—is about a $120,000 job. So it's a big job. We want to do it. But then there's also more financial risk. I can't get out of it so easily.
You couldn't get out of it because you've purchased materials, or did you have a deposit?
We got a deposit. I've been paid about 40 grand of the 100-some. I mean, there's a lot more to this story that I don't want to go into, but collecting on that is going to be a project, too, given the way things have gone. So I can't just ignore it. It's too much.
Paul, you talk about this enhanced review. Do you adjust your price when you run into these situations?
No. Possibly. The guys who are setting the price on the individual items we sell, the two design engineers, have two incentives. One, they get a commission on what they sell, so they want to raise the price as much as possible. But they also don't want to lose jobs, so they have a sense of when they can push it and when not. This particular client wasn't what I would call "price sensitive," given what they were paying for, the things we were making. It was complex stuff, and it was expensive.
But it's not like someone who would say, "Oh, I'm going to buy a car, and I would never consider anything past a Chevrolet." This guy would buy a Lamborghini if he felt like it. And so that's part of the equation. But we don't do trouble pricing unless we want someone seriously to go away immediately. Like then you can have a budget discussion right at the beginning and get them to go away, if you feel like it. Just like I don't run the shop floor, I don't actually do that day-by-day. If my guys asked me, "Hey, what do you think we should do here?" I'll certainly chime in. But I try to give them responsibility to make those decisions themselves.
Do you think there was a point where you should have walked away from this client?
It really can't happen. It's too much money. We haven't covered ourselves in glory so far, and we've just got to get out of it. We've got to get it done. I mean, I've been waiting to book this revenue now for almost a year, and we've put a lot of work into it. And I want to get it done so I can book it as accrued revenue, and then it'll help me with my overall revenue goals. So there's no real easy way to get out of this one.
Sometimes, jobs, Loren, the person you're selling to, there are consequences way beyond the job itself. So, there can be a situation where like, "Oh, I could just make this go away by refunding him or her their money." But that generally creates a sense of negative, well, non-goodwill, I guess. They can be an influential person. These things can be really, really complicated. At least that's been my experience.
Yeah, in general, I think you've got to keep your karma bank full by making every effort to always do the right thing. If we make mistakes, we own it. They clustered around this job, but there were things that we could have done differently that would have saved me some money. But we did those things. You know, he asked for furniture, and at the end of the day, we gotta give him furniture that he's going to be happy with. Otherwise, then it's on me. I've had the good fortune to have jobs go really well and I made a ton of money. And the flip side has to be expected. You're just gonna take a few in the face now and then.
You've been generous in acknowledging that you haven't done everything perfectly on this job. It sounds like if you could do one thing differently, you wouldn't make decisions for the client and move the project along before they were ready. That just makes me wonder, if the same situation were to happen again, maybe this client wouldn't turn out to be the client you consider the worst you've ever had. Is it possible?
No, this one woman is just like a grenade in the middle of the whole project. She presented a huge level of difficulty, no matter what we did. We could have executed perfectly, and it still would have been difficult because of her.
Did you try to get away from dealing with her?
At the end of the day, after nearly a year and a lot of trouble, I reached out to her boss and I said, "Listen, I need to get this done. You don't have the stuff you ordered. You and I have got to deal with this, you and me. And I can't have this woman in the middle of this. So please leave her out of it." And that got the ball moving again. That was not much fun. I don't know what the relationship is between her and him—whether it's a good relationship, or a bad relationship, or a personal relationship, or a work relationship. There's no way for me to tell what's going on there. But to have to ask someone to not have someone on their team, who they designated to run the project, run the project—that can't have been welcome news. But it did get the ball moving again.
Paul, Shawn mentioned the reputational aspect of this. Do you worry about people in a situation like this leaving bad online reviews somewhere?
Sure, why wouldn't I? I mean, we live in a world where someone can crap all over you anytime they feel like it. Now, we have a strong record of success. And I can pull out all kinds of other evidence that we basically know what we're doing. I actually knew a manufacturer who said to me one day that, "If you don't have 5 percent of your customers complaining about quality, you're actually spending too much on manufacturing."
That's an interesting philosophy.
Well, his company was consumer-oriented, and he grew it very fast. And he did a reasonable job for most of his clients. And I think that part of his thinking was that, if you're dealing with 100,000 people a year, some of them are going to leave a bad review no matter what you do. So why chase perfection when there is a serious cost to that? You're just not going to be perfect, and even if you were, some people wouldn't believe it anyway. So that's a point of view. I don't ascribe to that, because we're not that kind of business. But is every meal that McDonald's makes perfect? No. And do they live with getting slammed in reviews? Sure. And I think that every business owner just has to make a decision about what's appropriate for their own situation.
Shawn, is there anything in particular you've learned through the years dealing with bad clients? You said that as you've gotten older, it's a less frequent occurrence. Why do you think that is?
Our business relationships with clients are long, especially the really good ones. We have clients who have worked with us for a decade. I treat client selection a lot like hiring an employee. It's pretty rigorous, in terms of wanting to get to know them really well, trying to understand if the problems they have are problems we can actually solve, or if they're realistic about what those problems are. So I do a lot of vetting in the sales process to make sure that I think that they can go the distance.
So that's changed, right? In your early days, when you're hungry and you don't really know how to discern good from bad clients, you just sort of take anybody and everybody who has a checkbook. And then over time, you start to see the consequence of that. Just like with employees. You know, you're eager to hire. You hire the first guy who walks in the door, and then he creates mayhem throughout the organization. You're like, "Oh, shit, I'm never doing that again." You just get better. I think you get better at that. And since we're a service company, I have a lot more flexibility with that than, say, maybe somebody who's selling e-commerce or sells products. I also don't have an external investor telling me, "You've got to grow by a certain amount, and you have to get this many new customers." So I have more flexibility there. That's, I think, a big lesson in, over time, selling to the right customers instead of just any customer.
Did you have that pressure earlier on where there was somebody else who was driving you toward—
No, but I have seen businesses that have that dynamic. And I see it both in the decisions they make, in terms of customers that they accept, and I also see it in terms of the decisions they make, just in general. They tend to be more short-term, more visible results-oriented versus you're doing something today that pays off in three years. And so I'm really fortunate in that regard. And I don't ever want to be in that position where I would have to accept a customer that I knew would be harmful to the organization, because I want to produce some sort of financial metric. So that's pretty meaningful.
I'd also say, to Paul's point about his trouble-client flag, I think process can really help mitigate things. So as an example, we built a process where I'll do the sales. I'll often do the sales with a partner in that process, my director of strategy these days. We'll do it together. It'll typically end up where we're not servicing the client. So we have a little flag that, after a certain period of time, one of us reaches out to the client and takes them out to lunch, just has a meaningful conversation, say, "Hey, how are things going? Are you happy with the way things are working out?" And that, honestly, has been a real game-changer, because the client and how they interact with the team is one way, but you coming from outside of that process to ask if they're getting what they thought they were gonna get, if there are things we can do to improve, that's pretty meaningful.
And I think that that process, kind of like Paul's flag, has improved that a lot. It's allowed us to kind of get ahead of things. And it's also helped us see when, "Actually, I don't think this client is going to go the distance. So let's figure out a way to make sure they have a great experience and that when they say goodbye, we're saying goodbye, and everybody's happy." So those have been some meaningful changes we've made.
Well, so long as we're talking about difficult relationships, it just so happens, you've both have had interesting experiences with partners in your businesses. And 'd love to explore that, too, from the same perspective of: What did you learn going through that that others might learn from? Shawn, could you tell us a little about your partnership experience?
Yeah, sure. I mean, I've had a number of partners. I started the business at the age of 28. So I didn't know, really, what I was doing. I had no experience in business. I went to art school—two art schools—so I was really good at making art. I was pretty insecure, in terms of what it took to run a business. So I had one partner who was much more experienced. And I kind of leaned on her, but I didn't really ask questions like, "Do I like this person? Or do we have the same values? Or do you want to create the same thing for the company?"
How did you come to be partners with this person?
So my girlfriend at the time had been doing business with this other person, as consultants. And so the three of us—yeah, there's another one, starting a business with a romantic partner—so I had a romantic partner, and then I had a third partner who I didn't really know very well, and the three of us started this thing.
What could go wrong? Yeah, like we had no predetermined agreements. We didn't do the calculation of, "Well, this is what I bring to the table. And this is what you bring to the table. And this is what this is valued at. And this is what your duties will be, and my duties." It was just like, "Let's try to run a business! It's going to be great!" You know, like so many people do. And after about two years, she decided she didn't want to be in it anymore. That was my first buyout: super contentious, had to hire a mediator, ridiculous because the business was worth nothing. And we fought a lot over it. So, so, so, so stupid. So then I was down to one partner.
The romantic partner.
The romantic partner. We broke up. We broke up in the middle of the negotiation with the other partner. Super messy, so messy, but it was kind of funny. It's sort of like, adversity brings people together. So even though our romantic partnership was ending, we were both so pissed at our other partner. We were like, "We're gonna make this work!" So we did. And actually, we stayed business partners for another, I don't know, 15 years or so. And for about, I don't know, 12 of those 15 years, it was pretty good. And then it was terrible. Yeah, I can get into that, if you want.
Well, tell me this: There are a lot of people who give the advice, "Just don't ever have a partner. It's a mistake. It never works." And that's easy to say, but there are a lot of 28-year-old people out there who know art and who want to start a business, and partnerships sometimes do make sense, I think. And I'm curious, if you had it to do over, do you now know what you could have done differently that would have made a difference?
Yeah, I mean, the first thing, I think it's really important to recognize that getting the wheels off the ground is the hardest part of business in the early days: Getting those first customers and learning how to run the thing. And I don't know if I could have done that without that more experienced partner. She had clients who paid us money. That's a big deal. And so as much as that was frustrating and tumultuous…
There's a really interesting study that I found back in 2012 that looked at about 5,000 small businesses and compared them across lots of different dimensions. But one of the dimensions that was really interesting was partnerships. In general, those early-stage businesses did better when there were partners than the ones that were run by themselves.
And yet, at the same time, I've worked with a lot of businesses, and I've seen almost all partnerships dissolve. So I think there's a weird paradox where, if you have a partner in the early days, it's actually tremendously beneficial, especially because in a good partnership, you offset each other's weaknesses. For example, I was good at the creative stuff. I was good at the vision stuff, but I wasn't necessarily good, at that time, at selling. And to have those complementary skills is ridiculously advantageous, especially if you don't have outside money to build infrastructure. If you're bootstrapping it, it makes a difference.
Well, if you do have outside money, that's another partnership that can go bad.
Yeah, that's true. But I think what happens over time is that as the business matures and changes, does that partnership evolve and change to fit that kind of new state? And that's what happened for us, is 17 years into the business or so, it was like, "Wow, this is a different business today. And we're not aligned. You want something different than I want. And you aren't willing to do the things that are necessary for the business." And so then you get into ego. And, ugh.
So if you had had a good agreement in place that gave a set way to resolve an unresolvable difference and allow you to go your separate ways, would that have solved the problem?
I don't know. We had a shitty agreement, because we had a shitty lawyer.
What made it a bad agreement?
It was totally unclear. There was no, "Well, what happens if a partner stops performing?" which was the problem I was having, right? I had a business partner who was becoming more and more disengaged, and from just a pure performance perspective, wasn't holding up her end of the deal. And so what do you do? You know, you're 50/50. I, as the CEO, would say to her, "Hey, look, the metrics show this isn't working. Would you like to become a shareholder and we hire somebody? Or do you want to change your job?" But at the end of the day, you have equal power. And so the shitty shareholder agreement had no way to resolve that, other than breaking up the company.
And, in hindsight, that shitty shareholder agreement was awesome for me, like really good.
Because I had built all of the employee relationships. I had hired everybody. I was coaching everybody. I was in the trenches with the entire team. They knew the business as me. And also, I had sold every single client. And so the customers knew me, the employees knew me. And so, essentially, it made it so that I could be like, "All right, let's dissolve the company. And then I'll just start a new one, and I don't have to pay you anything." And that's not my way of rolling in the world. I do believe karma matters. But to have that kind of leverage was crazy.
You could argue, "Well, I did all the fucking work"—I'm starting to swear, because I'm pretty emotional about this. But yeah, in hindsight, I'm really glad the shareholder agreement didn't have a provision that would calculate valuation and force payments or shotgun clauses, because at the end of the day, it was better for me to be able to just break it up and go my way, because I could build it again.
Paul, you've talked about your experience with your partner previously here. And you wrote about it at The New York Times as well. Could you give us a quick recap of what happened with you?
Okay, yeah. So I had been in business, let's say '86 to 2002—whatever that is—16 years before I was approached by one of my clients, someone I had just done a job for. And he had recently sold out of a manufacturing business he owned. And he was in his early 60s at that point. He was looking for something to keep himself occupied. And he liked the way I had done the job for him. And he liked me and I liked him, too. He was a good guy. I liked his wife. And he made an offer to buy into the company. I was 40. I was looking at all the things that I had not been able to accomplish, because I just didn't have the skills and the experience and the network to do it. And it seemed like this was an opportunity to sort of get me out of my rut and to get the company to the next level.
And it turned out that that is what happened. Although it was not an easy path, because we had in mind to grow the existing business that I was in, which was making residential furniture. And shortly after the partnership started, we had this opportunity to make boardroom tables dropped in our lap by Google, and the business just became a different business. And in general, his ideas on how to run a business were very… I would say not a good fit for how I wanted to run it. But I didn't really know any better. Like, here's an older guy with money and manufacturing experience, and I was just listening to him because I didn't have any other source of advice at the moment. And I hadn't really figured out that you can get all kinds of free advice on the internet. We just weren't there in 2002, so it seemed like a good chance for me to get to a place that I wasn't getting on my own.
And I talked with him extensively and talked to his kids and talked to other people. And I got the standard advice: "Don't do it. Don't ever take a partner. You'll regret it." And I ignored that. And even though we had a lot of bumps in the road, and we ended up dissolving the partnership in 2010, I'm not at all sorry I did it. Because it did put me in a different place, and he did bring a different set of resources and a different point of view to the operation. We were able to get to the next level. And then we got stuck there, but that's a different story. We ran into the recession. We ran all kinds of things. But I would not be where I am today without Larry's help—and I will say this for him—I was very fortunate that he was just a really solid, good person, and that when we had troubles, we didn't let it get out of hand and get too personal.
And there was a moment when he was set to lose quite a large amount of money and decided that he was just going to take that shot and not bankrupt the company and sort of destroy my life. Because he was well aware of the entanglement I have between my business and my personal issues and an autistic son. He just was like, "I don't want to put this guy on the street. I could do it, but what's the point?" And he just backed off at that point, took his loss, and got out of the business. So I was very, very fortunate that I had a solid, sensible person with a wide streak of humanity in him.
Would I take a partner again, today? I probably would. Again, I'm at a place where I've kind of done everything I can do with this business. And I feel like it would really be a good thing to have an injection of energy and money and different kinds of expertise than I have. I think that if you're thinking about, "Oh, I want to take a partner," just make a list of all the things that the business needs, and then how many, honestly, that you are good at, and how many that you aren't good at that the partner is good at. And then the basic question: Is this a decent honest person I can get along with? That's pretty important, too.
To me, that's the number one thing. If you have strong values alignment—to Paul's example—you can weather the difficult times. If you don't, then those difficult times are just going to be the tipping point that just throws you over the edge. One of the things I've noticed is that some of the best partnership clients we've had have actually been married couples, which is really interesting, because you think, "Wow, you spend your day working together and your nights living together," and that's a lot of time.
I'll add that for my partner, a big part of the appeal was that, in his previous businesses, his wife had worked with him in the business. And he was sort of the big idea, big personality, friendly leader type. And she was a certified public accountant, and she was the get-down-and-dirty-in-the-details-and-make-it-work type. And they had been very successful together. And I think I've told this before, but what happened is after we formed the partnership, and I was working actually closely with the wife, she came in and sort of started to clean up my books and show me how to keep them and blah, blah, blah. And then she died. She died in her sleep about a month after we started working together. And it was a huge shock to everybody, a really unfortunate situation. She was like 54 years old, and she just had a heart attack and didn't wake up.
I think you've given her a lot of credit for, in that short period of time, being tremendously helpful, in terms of setting up your processes.
Well, she started me on the right road. And then what happened subsequent to that—and this is not a general lesson for anybody, because like so many business things, it's just particular to the situation. What happened after that was my partner got his daughter to come and work in my company. She had been living across the country, and he wanted her back in Philadelphia, just to sort of help him through this terrible shock. And she came, and she started working for me.
And she turned out to be just a tremendously capable person who contributed enormous value to my company. And I really liked her. I will say that one of the biggest things about having a partner, having not had one for 16 years, was just that there was somebody else at my level in the building who I could talk to about what was going on, and be dealing with not just an employee, not just someone who I can hire and fire. I mean, she was technically an employee, but this is obviously a different status. But just someone who was willing to think at the level I was thinking.
And she wrote our whole ERP system that we still use today. And it was such a breath of fresh air to have someone day-to-day who I enjoyed being with who was at my level intellectually and had goals for the business. And we've maintained a good relationship. As a matter of fact, I had her over for dinner a couple of weeks ago, and it was just great. I just really wish she worked for me, or with me, again, but it didn't work out that way.
Her father, your partner, passed away a few years ago.
He passed away two or three years ago, and we would see each other every now and then. But I think the most valuable thing, to me, was getting me to the next level but just having someone to share the burden with—having a partner. Just like, in my life, having a wife has been a tremendous thing, because challenges have come along, and the two of us deal with it as a team, and I never had that in the business till I had a partner. And I don't really have that right now. And I miss it, because I like having that feeling that you're not alone dealing with all the challenges.
That's what we're here for, Paul.
Well, you're good, but you're not… It's not quite the same. It's okay, but it's not as good.
Paul, were you and your partner 50/50 partners?
Yes, and we had the same deal, it sounds like, with Shawn, where we had to agree. Neither of us could outvote the other. And that worked until a couple of moments when it didn't work. But at the end of the day, we figured out a way around it.
Was that the right way to do it, do you think—50/50?
It was right for me at the time. I think that it can go wrong in a million ways. I think that's probably true of any partnership structure, that if the partners don't want to be partners, nothing's gonna work. But yeah, it left me exposed to things that Larry didn't choose to go down every road he could have. And I'm very fortunate about that.
If you had it to do over, are there things you would want in that agreement that you didn't have?
Anything you could imagine that would work as advice for somebody contemplating a partnership now?
No. A) it was a long time ago, and I don't even know what's in the agreement, frankly. But B) I think that my experience was, again, one I wouldn't want to hold up as a model for anybody, other than to say that you shouldn't reject the idea of a partner out of hand. That would be my takeaway.
I think the number one mistake folks make is they confuse being a shareholder with being an employee in the company. And I think that in my case, I had a partner who, for many years, was very engaged in the work and actually did a lot of great things to help us grow. And then what happened is, fundamentally, just like employees: Some employees are amazing for years, and then they start to lose the passion for the work or their priorities shift or maybe something happens to them. They have a health crisis, whatever. And they are no longer as valuable as they once were.
And when they're an employee, you can work toward increasing their performance. You can coach them. And you can also let them go. You can say, "Hey, it doesn't seem like you're in it to win it anymore. Your performance is flagging. Here are the metrics that show this. It's time for us to part ways." The problem when you have a partner who's performing a role in the company is, if that starts to happen—and so this gets to the agreement part—if you don't have a strong values alignment, and you don't have a course of action for when that problem happens, that's when you get into the really nasty areas. At least that's what I've observed.
All right, we are just about out of time. One more thing I wanted to ask you both about: You have both talked openly recently about rethinking your marketing, and I guess I'm especially curious about this. We're now at this moment with the economy where things are… Nobody quite knows what to make of it. Is the macroeconomic situation having any impact at all on your marketing thoughts? Paul, how about you?
No, I've always done well by going on offense when everybody else is shrinking back. In 2009, I made a significant investment in upgrading my website. And we are sort of in the beginning of this process of a targeted marketing effort, and I'm going to continue it. Because when the going gets tough, there's still work out there. And it's just a question and going and getting it.
Paul, I've got to stop you there. I didn't realize you upgraded your website in 2009. And it surprises me, because I think that was also the year that you reached out to me and asked me if I would be interested in having you write about what it was like for your business going through bankruptcy, which fortunately, didn't actually happen.
Do you connect those dots? Is that right?
I do. Yeah, I do. Because what happened was, you're coming through the beginning of 2009, it's pretty clear that the disaster has arrived, and what do you do? And our existing website at that time was not SEO-friendly. And I thought, "Okay, if we're gonna get through this, it's going to be because people find me on Google." There were a lot of things I didn't like about that site. And I was just like, "Okay, I've got to do it."
I've told the story as taking the kids' college fund. It's actually worse than that. We received a settlement from the local school board in response to a suit having to do with my autistic son's education. And that money was intended to be used to reimburse us for some private school tuition we'd paid for a couple of years. So I took that money. I took the money out of the hands of my disabled child and blew it on a website, but it saved the day. That was just one of those things, like, "Where am I going to find 30,000 bucks? Well, it's sitting right there. I've just got to…"
It worked, right?
It did work. And I mean, I think we're in the same thing. When times get tough, if you just shrink your head and hope it's going to blow over, how are the customers who are left going to find you? And so I believe in counter-attacking. I mean, I've been through enough recessions now, you don't just sit around and wait to die. That's my feeling. Do something. So I'm going full speed ahead with my marketing.
How about you, Shawn? Is the macroeconomic situation having any impact on your thinking?
I'm in Paul's boat on this one. You can't stop just because the headlines are bad. I just don't believe in this kind of retreat mentality. I mean, I'm about to write several really large checks for our small business conference in November, and there's all kinds of uncertainty. It's like, "Oh, COVID's still a thing. And, oh, the economy and wars and terror and Taiwan, blah, blah, blah, blah." But I'm just like, "Yeah, we're gonna go ahead, and we're going to push hard."
And you're planning on redoing your website, too, right?
Oh, yeah, we're gonna scrap the fucking thing. I'm swearing a lot today. It's super frustrating. We made some bets going in. Well, actually, we didn't know the pandemic was coming. But we made some bets, and the timing of those bets was just really bad. But I wrote about this on LinkedIn the other day. It was a really short post. It's like, "If it's crap, say it and move on, and make a new one." So, yeah, that's where we're at—spending a lot of money.
My thanks to Shawn Busse and Paul Downs. As always, thanks for sharing.


text:
Q: What makes the execution order of threads unpredictable? What makes the execution order of threads unpredictable? Does the scheduler at some point use random numbers or check system resources or see which thread has waited long enough or ...?

A: Using random numbers in the scheduler would introduce unnecessary overhead into a critical section of the OS, so it's very unlikely that is the cause, at least in any mainstream OS.
A thread usually runs until it makes an OS call that would block, or until an interrupt occurs, or until its time slice expires (which ultimately is just a timer interrupt). Even if you could carefully construct things so that two threads would always block in a deterministic order, you have no control over precisely when the latter two effects will occur. The order the threads in your application are executed in will eventually be influenced by events outside your application.

A: The scheduler is, usually, the OS's scheduler. It is influenced by many factors, including what other processes on the machine are doing, what the hardware is doing (interrupts), etc. Depending on the OS, I suppose there may sometimes be random numbers involved, but I suspect generally not. It's more just the unpredictable way that multiple variable time intervals can overlap.

A: Other questions make good points with technical details, but:
To be precise, thread scheduling in Java is fairly efficiently controlled by locks, wait/notify/notifyAll, sleep methods and other concurrency controls.
Only at those times during application execution, when these are not present, the execution order of different threads is left undefined.
Main reason is probably for the sake of ease of portability of Java in different hardware/OS systems. It is also only logical, that if you as a developer do not define order in which different threads in your app should be executed using above mentioned concurrency controls, you do not care about it and it just does not matter then and arbitrary way may be chosen by the JVM.

A: Depending upon the JVM, JVM might transfer the thread as it is to OS and OS scheduler will schedule the thread, or JVM may decide to schedule the thread itself, so the very first difference (unpredictable behavior on 2 different machine for same situation) comes here, whether thread is being scheduled by JVM or OS, u cant be really sure.....
Moreover there are number of factors, priority of thread is one factor (we can set the priority), resource is another factor....Its less likely that random numbers are involved.

A: Modern operating systems use what's known as Preemtive multitasking. It guarantees each process on the system a slice of CPU time, with various rules for when to interrupt each one and let the next have a turn. This is why you don't need one CPU per process on your machine :)
It's not random, but it is generally unpredictable.


text:
package strategies;

import strategies.WumpusMessageStrategy.WumpusMessageInstantiation;
import triggers.AgentAnnouncement;
import messaging.LocalMessage;
import agentcore.AgentInstantiation;
import agentcore.Context;
import agentcore.ExecutionError;
import agentcore.Strategy;
import agentcore.StrategyInstantiation;
import agentcore.Trigger;
import agentcore.WumpusContext;
/**
 * This strategy processes agent announcements. It adds the announced agent into the belief state.
 *
 * @author Bas Testerink
 */
public class AgentAnnouncedStrategy extends Strategy {

	public boolean isRelevant(Trigger trigger){ return trigger instanceof AgentAnnouncement; }
	public boolean isApplicable(Context c, Trigger t){ return true; }

	public StrategyInstantiation instantiate(Trigger t, AgentInstantiation agent){
		return new AgentAnnounceInstantiation((AgentAnnouncement)t);
	}

	public class AgentAnnounceInstantiation extends StrategyInstantiation {
		private AgentAnnouncement newAgent;

		public AgentAnnounceInstantiation(AgentAnnouncement newAgent){
			this.newAgent = newAgent;
		}

		public boolean executeNextStep(AgentInstantiation agent){
			WumpusContext context = (WumpusContext)agent.getContext();
			context.addOtherAgent(newAgent.getAgent());
			context.addInfo(agent, newAgent.getX(),newAgent.getY(), false, false);
			setFinished(true);
			return true;
		}

		public ExecutionError getError(){
			return null;
		}

		public synchronized void toJSON(StringBuffer r){
			r.append('{');
			r.append("\"Name\": \"agent announcement instantiation\",");
			r.append("\"Trigger\": "); newAgent.toJSON(r); r.append(',');
			r.append("\"Description\" :");
			r.append("\"Add to the belief state that agent "+newAgent.getAgent()+" was spawned at location ("+newAgent.getX()+","+newAgent.getY()+").\"");
			r.append('}');
		}
	}

	public void toJSON(StringBuffer b) {
		b.append("{\"Name\":\"agent announce strategy\"}");
	}
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


SAILING One of the best things in life, sailing is even more fun than firearms, and almost as much fun as playing around with computers. I am the proud and happy owner of a far too neglected boat. It is a Columbia 25 foot sloop, and some summers I almost live on the darned thing. Untill I meet the right woman (or pretty near the right one anyway) this boat is the love of my life. I do not really have much prepared to put up here yet, but this will almost certainly grow to be the largest section of this site. Sailing, along with the lifestyle, and locations that surround it, lends itself particularly well to photography. It is very nearly immposible for a bad picture to be taken anywhere people are sailing. It is one of the few sports that can be integrated into almost anything (you can eat, sleep read, swim, and engage in many other activities while you are "sailing"). It is also one of the few "free" sports with some thing of a sense of adventure and independance in it. I have spent lazy days sleeping and reading on my boat while listening to the night birds as I drifted on my mooring in Lake Michigan. I have also been terrified, cold, tired and in fear of my life during a storm on the Michigan side of the lake. In both instances I was "sailing" although the flavors of those two memories are in drastic contrast. This section will probably not be added to until mid July at least, and will probably not really swell until the winter months.


text:
Exclusive – Louis van Gaal is 'well equipped' for Europe, says former Manchester United defender
Isaac Moore
27th August 2015, 6:25 pm
Updated: 30th May 2018, 6:54 pm
Danny Higginbotham believes Louis van Gaal's management style will suit Manchester United in the Champions League this season.
The Red Devils have been handed a relatively kind draw in this year's group stages after they were paired with PSV Eindhoven, CSKA Moscow and Wolfsburg.
Van Gaal's side sealed their return to the Champions League with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Club Brugge on Wednesday in a game that saw Wayne Rooney return to form by netting a hat-trick.
Former United man Higginbotham thinks United will be confident of progressing to the knockout stages and praised their manager's tactical flexibility.
"I think he's well equipped for Europe and I think we saw yesterday what can happen when he allows them to express themselves," Higginbotham told Drivetime.
"People are saying it was only Brugges, but the movement was so much better in the second half when they went from 4-2-3-1 to 4-3-3 and it brought the best out of Rooney as well.
"With the way Van Gaal is setting up, it might actually suit United more in Europe than it does in the Premier League.
"It [the group stage draw] definitely could have been worse. It's still going to be difficult but if you look at the other groups they could have got, I think they'll be happy."
Danny Higginbotham


text:
masc. proper name, a familiar abbreviation of Edward. Related: Neddy. From 1790 as the "an ass or donkey."
Entries linking to Ned
masc. proper name, from Old English Eadweard, literally "prosperity-guard," from ead "wealth, prosperity" (see Edith) + weard "guardian" (see ward (n.)). Among the 10 most popular names for boys born in the U.S. every year from 1895 to 1930.
Share Ned
https://www.etymonline.com/word/Ned
Etymology of Ned by etymonline
Harper, D. (n.d.). Etymology of Ned. Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved $(datetime), from https://www.etymonline.com/word/Ned
Harper Douglas, "Etymology of Ned," Online Etymology Dictionary, accessed $(datetime), https://www.etymonline.com/word/Ned.
Harper, Douglas. "Etymology of Ned." Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com/word/Ned. Accessed $(datetimeMla).
D. Harper. "Etymology of Ned." Online Etymology Dictionary. https://www.etymonline.com/word/Ned (accessed $(datetime)).
Dictionary entries near Ned
necropsy
necrotomy
*ned-
needfire
needful


1. I'm a total food snob. I'd rather not eat than eat fast food, fried food, or fake food. I've been this way for as long as I can remember. I also don't drink soda. I can, however, be persuaded to indulge in an occasional coffee frappucino with a scoop of expresso chips.
3. I have an ongoing, constant conversation with St. Therese. All day. Every day. And I frequently mention to her that I'd really love to have another baby;-).
4. I only have one sibling. I never went to Catholic schools. I had no idea whatsover what I was doing when I signed up for a big family and endeavored to provide a Catholic education for them at home. But I have always, always known I wanted a lot of children and I wanted to teach. Isn't the Holy Spirit BIG?
5. I knew I wanted to marry Mike Foss when I was fourteen years old. Yep. And I never changed my mind. And there are several people reading who can vouch for that.
6. I was the world's moodiest teenager. (There are several people who can vouch for that, too). People thought I was sad. My grandfather called it "pensive." He was a wise one.
7. I don't like noise. I live in house with five boys, three girls, a very big labradoodle, and a husband who is still a kid. I say "shhh" a lot.
8. I pray every day for the people who will become my children's husbands and wives. Helen mentioned that you could say three Hail Mary's for that intention. Three Hail Marys times eight children just happens to be a St. Therese chaplet!


text:
Multiplatinum artist & EGOT winner John Legend announces his highly anticipated 8th studio album, Legend, out September 9 via Republic Records. The double album features Saweetie, Rick Ross, Muni Long, Jazmine Sullivan, Rapsody, Ledisi, Jhene Aiko, Ty Dolla $ign and more. Executive produced by Legend and Ryan Tedder, this vibrant project is suffused with an unapologetic spirit of sensuality and joy, informed by the vulnerability of pain, praise and healing.
Legend [2 CD]
Artist: John Legend
Vinyl - 2 LP
1. Rounds
2. Waterslide
3. Dope
4. Strawberry Blush
5. Guy Like Me
6. All She Wanna Do
7. Splash
8. You
10. Love
11. One Last Dance
12. All She Wanna Do
1. Memories
2. Nervous
3. Wonder Woman
5. I Want You To Know
6. Speak In Tongues
7. The Other Ones
8. Stardust
9. Pieces
10. Good
11. I Don't Love You Like I Used To


An economic powerhouse on the Pearl River Delta.
Holding a strategic position over the Pearl River Delta, Dongguan borders Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Huizhou. Taken together, this region is known as the Pearl River Delta Mega City – an economic powerhouse. This is one of China's most important manufacturing bases, with business travellers arriving via Shenzhen Bao'an International Airport and Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport throughout the year. The Opium Wars were fought here in the 19th century, and the Opium War Museum offers an in-depth look at these conflicts and the effect they had on the region. Humen Bridge and Keyuan Garden are other local highlights.
Grand Mercure Dongguan Humen located at the centre of Humen Town, Dongguan City. It is also strategicaly located between Guangzhou-Shenzhen-Zhuhai highway which is advantageous.The hotel is near Huanghe fashion wholesale market which is the largest clothing market in China within walking distance. All rooms and hotel public areas comes with complimentary WIFI access. One Cafe restaurant serves an international cusines and local flavours.