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The Escapist Portal > The Escapist Forums > The News Room
Playdom Hit With $3 Million Fine for Privacy Violations
Andy Chalk
Social games studio Playdom will eat a $3 million fine for violating the U.S. Child Online Privacy Protection Act with several of its games.
Playdom was accused by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission of collecting information including kids' ages and email address in several of its games and then posting that information online without parental consent. The games in question were originally operated by Acclaim Games, prior to its acquisition by Playdom in May 2010, including the now-defunct Ponystars. Former Acclaim Games CEO Howard Marks was also named in the case.
The FTC said that 821,000 children had registered for Pony Stars, along with 403,000 who signed up for its "general audience sites." How much user information actually ended up floating around on the internet isn't clear but whatever the amount, FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz said the settlement serves notice to game companies that they "owe it to parents and their children to provide proper notice and get proper consent."
"It's the law, it's the right thing to do, and, as today's settlement demonstrates, violating COPPA will not come cheap," he added.
Three million bucks is an awful lot of money, sure, but is a fine like this really "not cheap" in the grand scheme of things? In July 2010, Disney spent more than $563 million to acquire Playdom, with another $200 million on offer if the it specific growth targets. So if Disney ends up paying full pop for Playdom, the FTC settlement could represent less than one half of one percent of the purchase price; in other words, it's a rounding error. I'm not sure how much of a point about the importance of online privacy rights that's really going to make.
Source: Kotaku
samsonguy920
Where the hell is the FTC with Zynga's and Facebook's careless regard for privacy?
And $3 million is a joke for a Disney property. This isn't saying a damn thing and people that want their stuff kept private best get off that site and then change what info they can, like new email addys.
manythings
samsonguy920:
They're playing farmville.
OT: This is no different to things like the Oil companies buying from nations with embargoes imposed on them. They won't even notice the fine in the face of the profit.
vxicepickxv
Andy Chalk:
So if Disney ends up paying full pop for Playdom, the FTC settlement could represent less than one half of one percent of the purchase price; in other words, it's a rounding error. I'm not sure how much of a point about the importance of online privacy rights that's really going to make.
3 million dollars, that's basically nothing. Literally, Disney will just blink and laugh. Yes, Disney, as in the company that makes so much money it has to weigh it every day because counting it is too slow.
Leefank137
3 million is pocket change for Disney but what else is new? I just want to know where exactly this information was being posted, and with whom this personal information was being shared with?
manythings:
They are playing farmville.
Then I wish drought and predators or whatever bad things happen in that thing some people call a game on them.
OT:Not to mention oil companies still have the luxury of a cap on lawsuits per year that can be put on them.


• Don't put egg shells or coffee grounds in the garbage disposal, sink drain, or toilet.
• Don't put motor oil, lard, or cooking oil down the drain. These items should be disposed of in the garbage.
• Garbage disposals use large volumes of water and electricity-reducing or eliminating their use will lower your sewer, water, and power bills.
• Chemicals or additives that claim to dissolve grease-these may not be effective. Grease can build up in sewers, restricting the flow of wastewater that comes from our homes. This blockage forces wastewater up onto our streets-where it then enters the storm drain system and clogged sewer pipes on your property may incur a costly plumbing repair bill.
• The following products are considered household hazardous chemicals and should never be flushed down the sewer: pesticides, nail polish, oven cleaners, spot remover, vehicle fuel, oil or grease, fertilizer, rodent poison, weed killer, paint, varnish, stripper or thinners or battery fluids. These require disposal at a hazardous waste collection station.
• Use baskets or strainers in sink drains to catch food scraps and other solids.
• Scrape grease and food scraps from plates, pots and pans, utensils, and grills into the garbage.


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Questa pagina raccoglie i dati riguardanti il Dallas Tornado nelle competizioni ufficiali della stagione 1970.

Stagione
Rimane alla guida della squadra Ron Newman, con una rosa sostanzialmente invariata, tranne l'ingaggio del campione brasiliano Oreco.
I Tornado chiusero il torneo al terzo ed ultimo posto della Southern Division, non accedendo così alla finale.

Miglior marcatore della squadra e del torneo fu il greco Kyriakos Apostolidīs.

Organigramma societario

Area direttiva
Direttore esecutivo: Paul Waters

Area tecnica
Allenatore: Ron Newman

Rosa

Collegamenti esterni

1970

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


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Get ready for Acappellooza!
by Sound of the Rockies | May 27, 2019 | News | 0 comments
Before last summer, recently formed Collide Vocals was developing its sound and singing at small local gigs in Northern Colorado. Then came Acappellooza 2018, where the group of five performed before a packed house of almost a 1,000 at University of Denver's prestigious Newman Center for the Performing Arts, wowing the audience, a panel of celebrity judges and going on to win the competition.
"We were a little hesitant because Acappellooza was our first competition as a group," said Jonathan San Augustin, who had participated in the event with his high school group two years earlier. "It ended up being a really exciting experience for us and a lot of fun," Jonathan said.
Collide Vocals celebrating its win.
The win gave Collide, which features tight harmonies, unique pop covers and youthful energy, an opportunity to perform alongside other up-and-coming groups and to make a name for itself with area a cappella fans. "To this day, almost everywhere we perform people will come up to us and tell us they saw us at Acappellooza," Jonathan said.
The winnings of $1,000 in prize money and invites for paid appearances at Sound of the Rockies' three holiday shows, helped pave the way for Collide to travel and compete nationally and begin recording its first album. It also introduced the group to entirely new and larger audiences.
What's Acappellooza?
While the competition is friendly, Acappellooza is real! The groups bring their A game, and the audience is invested in the outcome.
How it's done:
Four of the best a cappella groups in the Denver area are chosen to compete after an intense vetting process.
Each group gets to show off its chops by performing two songs for up to 10 minutes.
The panel of celebrity judges gives some feedback and the judges cast their votes.
As round one concludes, members of the audience vote electronically.
The votes from the judges and the audience are tallied, and the finalists are chosen.
The top two groups return to the stage to perform one more song.
The panel of judges selects the winner.
Now in its fourth year, Acappellooza offers something for everyone. For up-and-coming a cappella groups like Collide Vocals, it's an opportunity to immerse themselves in Denver's vibrant a cappella community, raise their profile and win some money. For the audience, it's a chance to enjoy some of the region's best a cappella and have a say in who comes out on top in the lively competition. The groups come in all sizes – from two members to 18 – and perform everything from contemporary pop to jazz and soul.
Who's going to be there?
This year Acappellooza is featuring four outstanding competitors:
Crimson and Slate
A high school a cappella group from Colorado Springs, Crimson and Slate (pictured above) took first place at Acappellooza 2017.
Less than a year old, this Aurora-based group is already making a big splash at regional a cappella competitions.
DU First Edition
Founded in 2013, First Edition (AKA DUFE) is the first all-female a cappella group on the University of Denver campus.
In the Buff is the premier men's a cappella group at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
A cappella meets Barbershop
At the same time, Acappellooza introduces a cappella followers to Sound of the Rockies and the power of Barbershop's four-part harmony. As event hosts, SOR typically performs a set of fan favorites and previews songs the chorus is working on for international competition later in the summer.
To SOR member TJ Donahue, who helped launch Acappellooza, this is the part of the evening he most looks forward to.
"The people in the audience who come to our shows know what we're all about, but most of the collegiate a cappella crowd doesn't," TJ explained. "When we begin to sing you can see people's jaws drop. The audience just goes wild. They love it. Their image of Barbershop, and the stereotype of straw hats and old-timey music, completely falls away."
The outcome, is a win-win: SOR is able to support the work of up-and-coming singing groups while at the same time spreading the Barbershop bug to a new generation of fans as well as potential future chorus members.
Acappelloza 2019 takes place Saturday, June 22 at 7:30 p.m. The event usually sells out. So, buy your tickets today!
Feature image: 2017 Acappellooza winners Crimson and Slate performing at the event.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">

			<title>Docs For Class Ivc_Model_Clubs_Gateway</title>
			<link rel="stylesheet" href="../../media/stylesheet.css" />

 Ivc_Model_Clubs_Gateway

Description

					Description |
															Methods (details)

Club gateway

author: Alexandre Esser

			Located in /library/Ivc/Model/Clubs/Gateway.php (line 24)

Method Summary

			Description |
												Methods (details)

											void
										createClub
											( $data)

											void
										fetchAll
										()

											void
										fetchById
											( $id)

											void
										getDbAdapter
										()

											void
										getDbTable
										()

											void
										setDbAdapter
											([ $dbAdapter = null])

											void
										setDbTable
											( $dbTable)

Methods

			Description |
																Methods (details)

		createClub (line 67)

		void

			createClub

					( $data)

				$data

		fetchAll (line 71)

		void

			fetchAll

				()

		fetchById (line 77)

		void

			fetchById

					( $id)

				$id

		getDbAdapter (line 39)

		void

			getDbAdapter

				()

		getDbTable (line 59)

		void

			getDbTable

				()

		setDbAdapter (line 29)

		void

			setDbAdapter

					([ $dbAdapter = null])

				$dbAdapter

		setDbTable (line 47)

		void

			setDbTable

					( $dbTable)

				$dbTable

		Documentation generated on Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:45:23 +0800 by phpDocumentor 1.4.1

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Africa Latest News, Videos and Opinions News South Africa News South Africa Eyes Green Hydrogen Investment Worth U.S.$250 Billion
South Africa Eyes Green Hydrogen Investment Worth U.S.$250 Billion
South Africa announced plans to support a pipeline of green hydrogen projects worth about US$17.8 billion over the next decade.
According to WeForum, the Green Hydrogen Catapult, a United Nations initiative to bring down the cost of green hydrogen announced that it is almost doubling its goal for green electrolysers from 25 gigawatts set last year to 45 gigawatts by 2027.
The European Commission has adopted a set of legislative proposals to decarbonize the EU gas market by facilitating the uptake of renewable and low-carbon gases, including hydrogen, and to ensure energy security for all citizens in Europe.
The United Arab Emirates is also raising ambition, with the country's new hydrogen strategy aiming to hold a fourth of the global low-carbon hydrogen market by 2030 and Japan recently announced it will invest US$3.4 billion from its green innovation fund to accelerate research and development and promotion of hydrogen use over the next decade.
While other African countries such as Morocco and Namibia have already positioned themselves as potential hydrogen producers. In 2021, Namibia announced an estimated US$9.4 billion green hydrogen project, scheduled to enter production in 2026. The initial target is to generate 2 gigawatts of renewable electricity for regional and global markets.
The US$8.5 billion promised at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) to support South Africa's Just Energy Transition Partnership to a low-emission development path specifies a goal to "develop new economic opportunities such as green hydrogen."
According to Further Africa, South Africa has now set its eyes on attracting as much as US$250 billion into its green hydrogen industry by 2050 to take advantage of abundant solar and wind energy sources.
Masopha Moshoeshoe, a green economy specialist in the South African Presidency's investment and infrastructure office, says the industry could create 1.4 million jobs and generate as much as US$30 billion in annual revenue by that year.
Your Friends Also Read: Liberian President George Weah to Seek Re-Election
Moshoeshoe presented the plan at the Monday COP27 international climate conference in Egypt. It involves South Africa exporting as much as eight million tons of clean-burning fuel and its derivatives by 2050 and satisfying local demand of between two and five million tons.
He said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine has increased interest in supply and created more opportunities for cooperation.
A number of bilateral negotiations are taking place between South Africa and potential markets, according to Moshoeshoe.
The war has driven up natural gas prices and threatened the security of supply. Investment funds, governments and utilities are pledging to spend billions of dollars on markets for clean fuel.
The potential is for the country to supply between 4 per cent and 8 per cent of the global market for ammonia, which is produced using hydrogen, with a focus on supplying South Korea and Japan, he said.
Between 140,000 megawatts and 300,000 megawatts of renewable-power generation capacity would be needed to supply the industry, compared with the country's current total power facility capacity of a little over 40,000 megawatts, the presentation showed.
By 2030 alone, between 6,000 and 10,000 megawatts of dedicated renewable energy plants would need to be built to power 3,000 to 5,000 megawatts of electrolyzer capacity, according to figures shown in the presentation. Electrolyzers use electricity to make hydrogen from water.
Green hydrogen production technologies are seeing a renewed wave of interest. This is because the possible uses for hydrogen are expanding across multiple sectors, including power generation, manufacturing processes in industries such as steelmaking and cement production, fuel cells for electric vehicles, heavy transport such as shipping, green ammonia production for fertilizers, cleaning products, refrigeration, and electricity grid stabilization, according to the World Bank.
Your Friends Also Read: Nigeria Announces Time-Table For Trial Census
South Africa possesses exceptional conditions for the development of a competitive green hydrogen industry due to its geographical and institutional environments, giving it the potential to become a development pole at the national and regional levels.
The country has abundant solar and wind resources at very competitive prices and a proven path for developing innovative technologies in renewable energy. Furthermore, the mining industry could help to scale-up green hydrogen, making it even more competitive in the medium- and long-term. These conditions, coupled with a conducive environment for public-private partnerships and leveraging of private sector resources, are comparative advantages for the development of this industry in South Africa.
Green hydrogen is produced by using renewably generated electricity that splits water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen.
According to the World Bank, the demand for hydrogen reached an estimated 87 million metric tons (MT) in 2020, and is expected to grow to 500-680 million MT by 2050. From 2020 to 2021, the hydrogen production market was valued at US$130 billion and is estimated to grow to 9.2 per cent annually through 2030.
But there's a catch, over 95 per cent of current hydrogen production is fossil-fuel based, very little of it is "green". Today, 6 per cent of global natural gas and 2 per cent of global coal go into hydrogen production.
You might encounter the terms 'grey', 'blue', and 'green' being associated when describing hydrogen technologies. It all comes down to the way it is produced.Green hydrogen is defined as hydrogen produced by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen using renewable electricity. This is a very different pathway compared to both grey and blue, according to WeForum.
Your Friends Also Read: ASUU Must Compensate Nigerian Students for Time Loss
Grey hydrogen is traditionally produced from methane (CH4), split with steam into CO2 and H2, hydrogen. Grey hydrogen has increasingly been produced also from coal, with significantly higher CO2 emissions per unit of hydrogen produced.
Blue hydrogen follows the same process as grey, with the additional technologies necessary to capture the CO2 produced when hydrogen is split from methane (or from coal) and stored for a long term.
In a related article by WeForum published on August 10, 2022, green hydrogen's high production costs are hampering its industrial application. For instance, although the steel and chemical industries are major hydrogen users, many companies are reluctant to shift to green hydrogen. Under the present market conditions, higher-priced green products are competing against established lower-priced grey options, particularly in capital-intensive sectors with low-profit margins.
They further recommended that a multi-faceted industrial policy is needed to facilitate the emergence of green hydrogen as a breakthrough technology in a world that is heavily locked into fossil fuel-based technologies.
UNFPA Partners Miss South Africa 2020 As New Regional Champion
Elon Musk Set to Negotiate With Ghana's Twitter Employees
Ahead of Ramadan, which will starts in late March this year, scores of Egyptians are flooding the "Ahlan…
CBN Extends Naira-Swap Deadline Indefinitely
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has disclosed that commercial banks must accept the old…
South Africa to Discuss DR Congo Crisis
A summit of SADC leaders has begun place in Namibia with a special focus on the ongoing crisis…
Dozens of Troops, Civilians Killed in Burkina Faso Insurgents Attack
A regional governor and the army both released statements confirming that at least 28 persons, including troops and…


text:
/**
 * Apache Licence Version 2.0
 * Please read the LICENCE file
 */
package org.hypothesis.data.interfaces;

import org.hypothesis.data.model.Status;

import java.io.Serializable;

/**
 * @author Kamil Morong, Tilioteo Ltd
 *
 *         Hypothesis
 *
 */
public interface HasStatus extends Serializable {

	Status getStatus();

}


Sir George Grey was Premier of which state or country 1877-1879, having previously served it as its autocratic and influential Governor 1845-53 and 1861-1868?
What subregion of Oceania includes Fiji, New Caledonia, New Guinea, Norfolk Island, the Solomon Islands, the Torres Strait Islands and Vanuatu?
What is the medical term for abnormally low body temperature?
If someone is equivocating which are they doing?
What caused the British government to allocate £20 million in the first half of the 19th century for payment mainly to private individuals?
As at 25 September 2017 who was No 1 in the tennis world rankings?
The Czechoslovakian composer Anton Dvorák was most proficient in which instrument?


Freeze dried food long-run food storage by Survival Cave Food. 2160 serving offers 2,000 calorie consumption every day for One individual for 6 months! Survivalcavefood freeze dried emergency food storage foods are a fantastic choice for any food storage program!


Gordon Downie, front man for the seminal group The Tragically Hip, finally died of the brain cancer that was afflicting him. It was not before he led one final triumphant tour with the Hip and led the way for the rest of the country to come to terms with our treatment of indigenous peoples.
"The place of honor that Mr. Downie occupies in Canada's national imagination has no parallel in the United States. Imagine Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan and Michael Stipe combined into one sensitive, oblique poet-philosopher, and you're getting close."
Sorry, World. Canada is closed today due to a death in the family.
Thanks for putting that up, Amy. I should have thought of it myself. An homage to Ontario's cottage country and proof of how good he and the Hip were.
Thanks, Art, for stopping by. It's appreciated.
And also to you, Steel, for the rate.
Downie was a one-off, FM. He made no secret that he was dying of brain cancer, instead using it as a spring-board for a number of noble causes, such as the aforementioned reaching out to First Nations. His foundation has already raised more than $1.5 million for cancer research. Oh yeah -- and the music was pretty damned good, too.


Without prejudice to Articles 6, 7 and 23 of this Regulation, agreements, decisions and concerted practices of the kind described in Article 85 (1) of the Treaty and the abuse of a dominant position in the market, within the meaning of Article 86 of the Treaty, shall be prohibited, no prior decision to that effect being required.
Upon application by the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned, the Commission may certify that, on the basis of the facts in its possession, there are no grounds under Article 85 (1) or Article 86 of the Treaty for action on its part in respect of an agreement, decision or practice.
1. Where the Commission, upon application or upon its own initiative, finds that there is infringement of Article 85 or Article 86 of the Treaty, it may by decision require the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned to bring such infringement to an end.
(b) natural or legal persons who claim a legitimate interest.
3. Without prejudice to the other provisions of this Regulation, the Commission may, before taking a decision under paragraph 1, address to the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned recommendations for termination of the infringement.
1. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices of the kind described in Article 85 (1) of the Treaty which come into existence after the entry into force of this Regulation and in respect of which the parties seek application of Article 85 (3) must be notified to the Commission. Until they have been notified, no decision in application of Article 85 (3) may be taken.
(b) joint research for improvement of techniques, provided the results are accessible to all parties thereto and may be used by each of them.
These agreements, decisions and practices may be notified to the Commission.
1. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices of the kind described in Article 85 (1) of the Treaty which are in existence at the date of entry into force of this Regulation and in respect of which the parties seek application of Article 85 (3) shall be notified to the Commission before 1 August 1962.
2. Paragraph 1 shall not apply to agreements, decisions or concerted practices falling within Article 4 (2) ; these may be notified to the Commission.
1. Whenever the Commission takes a decision pursuant to Article 85 (3) of the Treaty, it shall specify therein the date from which the decision shall take effect. Such date shall not be earlier than the date of notification.
2. The second sentence of paragraph 1 shall not apply to agreements, decisions or concerted practices falling within Article 4 (2) and Article 5 (2), nor to those falling within Article 5 (1) which have been notified within the time limit specified in Article 5 (1).
1. Where agreements, decisions and concerted practices in existence at the date of entry into force of this Regulation and notified before 1 August 1962 do not satisfy the requirements of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty and the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned cease to give effect to them or modify them in such manner that they no longer fall within the prohibition contained in Article 85 (1) or that they satisfy the requirements of Article 85 (3), the prohibition contained in Article 85 (1) shall apply only for a period fixed by the Commission. A decision by the Commission pursuant to the foregoing sentence shall not apply as against undertakings and associations of undertakings which did not expressly consent to the notification.
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply to agreements, decisions and concerted practices falling within Article 4 (2) which are in existence at the date of entry into force of this Regulation if they are notified before 1 January 1964.
1. A decision in application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty shall be issued for a specified period and conditions and obligations may be attached thereto.
2. A decision may on application be renewed if the requirements of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty continue to be satisfied.
(d) where the parties abuse the exemption from the provisions of Article 85 (1) of the Treaty granted to them by the decision.
In cases to which subparagraphs (b), (c) or (d) apply, the decision may be revoked with retroactive effect.
1. Subject to review of its decision by the Court of Justice, the Commission shall have sole power to declare Article 85 (1) inapplicable pursuant to Article 85 (3) of the Treaty.
2. The Commission shall have power to apply Article 85 (1) and Article 86 of the Treaty ; this power may be exercised notwithstanding that the time limits specified in Article 5 (1) and in Article 7 (2) relating to notification have not expired.
3. As long as the Commission has not initiated any procedure under Articles 2, 3 or 6, the authorities of the Member States shall remain competent to apply Article 85 (1) and Article 86 in accordance with Article 88 of the Treaty ; they shall remain competent in this respect notwithstanding that the time limits specified in Article 5 (1) and in Article 7 (2) relating to notification have not expired.
1. The Commission shall forthwith transmit to the competent authorities of the Member States a copy of the applications and notifications together with copies of the most important documents lodged with the Commission for the purpose of establishing the existence of infringements of Articles 85 or 86 of the Treaty or of obtaining negative clearance or a decision in application of Article 85 (3).
2. The Commission shall carry out the procedure set out in paragraph 1 in close and constant liaison with the competent authorities of the Member States ; such authorities shall have the right to express their views upon that procedure.
3. An Advisory Committee on Restrictive Practices and Monopolies shall be consulted prior to the taking of any decision following upon a procedure under paragraph 1, and of any decision concerning the renewal, amendment or revocation of a decision pursuant to Article 85 (3) of the Treaty.
4. The Advisory Committee shall be composed of officials competent in the matter of restrictive practices and monopolies. Each Member State shall appoint an official to represent it who, if prevented from attending, may be replaced by another official.
5. The consultation shall take place at a joint meeting convened by the Commission ; such meeting shall be held not earlier than fourteen days after dispatch of the notice convening it. The notice shall, in respect of each case to be examined, be accompanied by a summary of the case together with an indication of the most important documents, and a preliminary draft decision.
6. The Advisory Committee may deliver an opinion notwithstanding that some of its members or their alternates are not present. A report of the outcome of the consultative proceedings shall be annexed to the draft decision. It shall not be made public.
1. In carrying out the duties assigned to it by Article 89 and by provisions adopted under Article 87 of the Treaty, the Commission may obtain all necessary information from the Governments and competent authorities of the Member States and from undertakings and associations of undertakings.
2. When sending a request for information to an undertaking or association of undertakings, the Commission shall at the same time forward a copy of the request to the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the seat of the undertaking or association of undertakings is situated.
3. In its request the Commission shall state the legal basis and the purpose of the request and also the penalties provided for in Article 15 (1) (b) for supplying incorrect information.
4. The owners of the undertakings or their representatives and, in the case of legal persons, companies or firms, or of associations having no legal personality, the persons authorised to represent them by law or by their constitution shall supply the information requested.
5. Where an undertaking or association of undertakings does not supply the information requested within the time limit fixed by the Commission, or supplies incomplete information, the Commission shall by decision require the information to be supplied. The decision shall specify what information is required, fix an appropriate time limit within which it is to be supplied and indicate the penalties provided for in Article 15 (1) (b) and Article 16 (1) (c) and the right to have the decision reviewed by the Court of Justice.
6. The Commission shall at the same time forward a copy of its decision to the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the seat of the undertaking or association of undertakings is situated.
1. If in any sector of the economy the trend of trade between Member States, price movements, inflexibility of prices or other circumstances suggest that in the economic sector concerned competition is being restricted or distorted within the common market, the Commission may decide to conduct a general inquiry into that economic sector and in the course thereof may request undertakings in the sector concerned to supply the information necessary for giving effect to the principles formulated in Articles 85 and 86 of the Treaty and for carrying out the duties entrusted to the Commission.
2. The Commission may in particular request every undertaking or association of undertakings in the economic sector concerned to communicate to it all agreements, decisions and concerted practices which are exempt from notification by virtue of Article 4 (2) and Article 5 (2).
3. When making inquiries pursuant to paragraph 2, the Commission shall also request undertakings or groups of undertakings whose size suggests that they occupy a dominant position within the common market or a substantial part thereof to supply to the Commission such particulars of the structure of the undertakings and of their behaviour as are requisite to an appraisal of their position in the light of Article 86 of the Treaty.
4. Article 10 (3) to (6) and Articles 11, 13 and 14 shall apply correspondingly.
1. At the request of the Commission, the competent authorities of the Member States shall undertake the investigations which the Commission considers to be necessary under Article 14 (1), or which it has ordered by decision pursuant to Article 14 (3). The officials of the competent authorities of the Member States responsible for conducting these investigations shall exercise their powers upon production of an authorisation in writing issued by the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the investigation is to be made. Such authorisation shall specify the subject matter and purpose of the investigation.
2. If so requested by the Commission or by the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the investigation is to be made, the officials of the Commission may assist the officials of such authorities in carrying out their duties.
(d) to enter any premises ; land and means of transport of undertakings.
2. The officials of the Commission authorised for the purpose of these investigations shall exercise their powers upon production of an authorisation in writing specifying the subject matter and purpose of the investigation and the penalties provided for in Article 15 (1) (c) in cases where production of the required books or other business records is incomplete. In good time before the investigation, the Commission shall inform the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the same is to be made of the investigation and of the identity of the authorised officials.
3. Undertakings and associations of undertakings shall submit to investigations ordered by decision of the Commission. The decision shall specify the subject matter and purpose of the investigation, appoint the date on which it is to begin and indicate the penalties provided for in Article 15 (1) (c) and Article 16 (1) (d) and the right to have the decision reviewed by the Court of Justice.
4. The Commission shall take decisions referred to in paragraph 3 after consultation with the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the investigation is to be made.
5. Officials of the competent authority of the Member State in whose territory the investigation is to be made may, at the request of such authority or of the Commission, assist the officials of the Commission in carrying out their duties.
6. Where an undertaking opposes an investigation ordered pursuant to this Article, the Member State concerned shall afford the necessary assistance to the officials authorised by the Commission to enable them to make their investigation. Member States shall, after consultation with the Commission, take the necessary measures to this end before 1 October 1962.
(c) they produce the required books or other business records in incomplete form during investigations under Article 13 or 14, or refuse to submit to an investigation ordered by decision issued in implementation of Article 14 (3).
(b) they commit a breach of any obligation imposed pursuant to Article 8 (1).
In fixing the amount of the fine, regard shall be had both to the gravity and to the duration of the infringement.
3. Article 10 (3) to (6) shall apply.
4. Decisions taken pursuant to paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not be of a criminal law nature.
(b) before notification and in the course of agreements, decisions or concerted practices in existence at the date of entry into force of this Regulation, provided that notification was effected within the time limits specified in Article 5 (1) and Article 7 (2).
6. Paragraph 5 shall not have effect where the Commission has informed the undertakings concerned that after preliminary examination it is of opinion that Article 85 (1) of the Treaty applies and that application of Article 85 (3) is not justified.
(d) to submit to an investigation which it has ordered by decision taken pursuant to Article 14 (3).
2. Where the undertakings or associations of undertakings have satisfied the obligation which it was the purpose of the periodic penalty payment to enforce, the Commission may fix the total amount of the periodic penalty payment at a lower figure than that which would arise under the original decision.
The Court of Justice shall have unlimited jurisdiction within the meaning of Article 172 of the Treaty to review decisions whereby the Commission has fixed a fine or periodic penalty payment ; it may cancel, reduce or increase the fine or periodic penalty payment imposed.
For the purposes of applying Articles 15 to 17 the unit of account shall be that adopted in drawing up the budget of the Community in accordance with Articles 207 and 209 of the Treaty.
1. Before taking decisions as provided for in Articles 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 15 and 16, the Commission shall give the undertakings or associations of undertakings concerned the opportunity of being heard on the matters to which the Commission has taken objection.
2. If the Commission or the competent authorities of the Member States consider it necessary, they may also hear other natural or legal persons. Applications to be heard on the part of such persons shall, where they show a sufficient interest, be granted.
3. Where the Commission intends to give negative clearance pursuant to Article 2 or take a decision in application of Article 85 (3) of the Treaty, it shall publish a summary of the relevant application or notification and invite all interested third parties to submit their observations within a time limit which it shall fix being not less than one month. Publication shall have regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business secrets.
1. Information acquired as a result of the application of Articles 11, 12, 13 and 14 shall be used only for the purpose of the relevant request or investigation.
2. Without prejudice to the provisions of Articles 19 and 21, the Commission and the competent authorities of the Member States, their officials and other servants shall not disclose information acquired by them as a result of the application of this Regulation and of the kind covered by the obligation of professional secrecy.
3. The provisions of paragraphs 1 and 2 shall not prevent publication of general information or surveys which do not contain information of undertakings.
1. The Commission shall publish the decisions which it takes pursuant to Articles 2, 3, 6, 7 and 8.
2. The publication shall state the names of the parties and the main content of the decision ; it shall have regard to the legitimate interest of undertakings in the protection of their business secrets.
1. The Commission shall submit to the Council proposals for making certain categories of agreement, decision and concerted practice falling within Article 4 (2) or Article 5 (2) compulsorily notifiable under Article 4 or 5.
2. Within one year from the date of entry into force of this Regulation, the Council shall examine, on a proposal from the Commission, what special provisions might be made for exempting from the provisions of this Regulation agreements, decisions and concerted practices falling within Article 4 (2) or Article 5 (2).
1. Agreements, decisions and concerted practices of the kind described in Article 85 (1) of the Treaty to which, before the entry into force of this Regulation, the competent authority of a Member State has declared Article 85 (1) to be inapplicable pursuant to Article 85 (3) shall not be subject to compulsory notification under Article 5. The decision of the competent authority of the Member State shall be deemed to be a decision within the meaning of Article 6 ; it shall cease to be valid upon expiration of the period fixed by such authority but in any event not more than three years after the entry into force of this Regulation. Article 8 (3) shall apply.
2. Applications for renewal of decisions of the kind described in paragraph 1 shall be decided upon by the Commission in accordance with Article 8 (2).
The Commission shall have power to adopt implementing provisions concerning the form, content and other details of applications pursuant to Articles 2 and 3 and of notifications pursuant to Articles 4 and 5, and concerning hearings pursuant to Article 19 (1) and (2).
Done at Brussels, 6 February 1962.


The number of patients that die each year due to preventable hospital errors is equal to four full jumbo jets crashing each week. While hospitals are capable of great medical feats, they are also riddled with daily errors that claim lives.
More than a decade into the fight against medical errors, there is little reason to think the risks have declined considerably for the 37 million people that are hospitalized annually. When, in fact, recent studies have shown a problem that is bigger and more complex than ever thought. A study in January, regarding Medicare patients, suggested that hospital staff failed to report an estimated 86 percent of harms done to patients. If most harms, that are inflicted on patients are not reported, they can never be tracked or corrected, pointed out the Health and Human Services Department study.
In a more recent study, built on the previous HHS study, researchers found that one in seven suffered serious or long-term injuries or died, as a result of hospital care. About 44 percent, according to researchers were in fact preventable.
Sure, there has been notable progress such as utilizing checklists to reporting hospital infection rates on state Web sites. Still, though, the question remains how close can hospitals ever come to being error-free? The answer is controversial depending on who you ask. But most importantly YOU need to play an active role in your medical care as much as you can.
Below are tips to help protect you and loved ones from hospital errors.
Advocates agree that patients can lessen their risk of harm by monitoring their care. Ask questions and if you don't understand the answer, seek clarification.
Carry a notebook – sounds easy enough, right? Write down all your medications (prescription and non-prescription), why you take them and who they were prescribed by. When possible, include contact information. Take it a step further and use this same notebook to take notes during doctor visits or hospital stays.
Make sure your doctor is aware of any allergies and adverse reactions you have had to medicines in the past.
When your doctor writes a prescription, make sure you can read it. And that you know what it is. If you can't read it, chances are the pharmacist can't read it either.
Hand sanitizer – this is a no brainer, always have a bottle with you and use it frequently. Ask healthcare workers that have direct contact with you if they have washed their hands, this is the single most effective way to prevent infection.
Bring an advocate – a family member or friend – particularly during check-in and discharge. Some hospitals have a staff person or advocate you can consult. If you hire your own, check their credentials.
Referrals – ask your doctor for a person recommendation before seeking out a specialist.
Surgery Prep – make sure that you and your doctor and surgeon all agree on exactly what is going to be done. For instance, if you are having surgery on your left hand, make sure that all involved know it's the left hand. It might sound silly, but it happens.
Follow up – if you have a test and don't get a response, follow up. Don't assume that no news is good news.
Lastly and most importantly, we all have a tendency to use the Internet to self asses what is wrong with us. But still see your doctor and do visit a reliable Web site such as www.MayoClinic.com or www.WebMD.com.


text:
from importlib import import_module

from django.core.exceptions import ImproperlyConfigured

def import_by_path(dotted_path, error_prefix=''):
    """
    Import a dotted module path and return the attribute/class designated by
    the last name in the path. Raise ImproperlyConfigured if something goes
    wrong.

    .. warning::
        .. deprecated:: Django 1.6

        Function :py:func:`django.utils.module_loading.import_by_path` has
        been added in Django 1.6.
    """
    try:
        module_path, class_name = dotted_path.rsplit('.', 1)
    except ValueError:
        raise ImproperlyConfigured("%s%s doesn't look like a module path" % (
            error_prefix, dotted_path))
    try:
        module = import_module(module_path)
    except ImportError as e:
        msg = '%sError importing module %s: "%s"' % (
            error_prefix, module_path, e)
        raise ImproperlyConfigured(msg)
    try:
        attr = getattr(module, class_name)
    except AttributeError:
        raise ImproperlyConfigured('%sModule "%s" does not define a "%s" \
                                   attribute/class' %
                                   (error_prefix, module_path, class_name))
    return attr


text:
Watch a Clip From the New Spider-Ham Short on the 'Spider-Verse' Blu-ray
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse on Blu-ray was already going to be a desirable item regardless of the special features, just because the movie is so good, and so full of little Easter eggs to find as you watch the movie over and over again. (More on those in a sec.) But the Spider-Verse Blu-ray also has a brand-new Spider-Ham short, featuring John Mulaney as the voice of Spider-Ham. You can watch a clip of it above.
Here's the full list of Spider-Verse special features. The one dedicated to the film's many Easter eggs sounds very intriguing:
We Are Spider-Man: Exploring and celebrating one of the key themes of the film, We Are Spider-Man takes a deep dive into the diversity of the characters and aspirational core that any person from any gender or cultural background can wear the mask.
Spider-Verse: A New Dimension: With a stunning visual style and state of the art animation designed to take the viewer into the pages of a comic, Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is not only a love letter to comic books but a groundbreaking take on the super hero genre. Hear from the artists and filmmakers who pushed the boundaries of the artform as they discuss their journey.
The Ultimate Comics Cast: Enjoy this showcase of all of the fan favorite characters featured in the Spider-Verse and the spectacular cast who were chosen to bring them to life.
A Tribute to Stan Lee & Steve Ditko: Celebrate the amazing legacy and powerful spirit of the creators of Spider-Man.
The Spider-Verse Super-Fan Easter Egg Challenge: The Spider-Verse is loaded with Easter Eggs, from cameos to comics references. Fans are challenged to find them all!
Designing Cinematic Comics Characters: A breakdown of all aspects of the character design including costume, movement in animation, and distinct powers for each character.
Heroes & Hams: Meet the amazing Spider-people of the Spider-Verse.
Scorpions and Scoundrels: Explore the classic villains who wreak havoc on the Spider-Verse.
Alternate Universe Mode: In this all-new viewing experience, discover alternate scenes, plotlines, characters, and more with the filmmakers as your guide.
All-New Original Short "Spider-Ham: Caught In a Ham" It's another normal day for Peter Porker, a.k.a. the Spectacular Spider-Ham, fighting bad guys and loving hot dogs, until a mysterious portal starts messing with the very fabric of his cartoon reality.
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse debuts on Digital HD on February 26 and on 4K Ultra HD Combo Pack, Blu-ray Combo Pack, and DVD on March 19.
Gallery — The Best Spider-Man Movie Posters, Ranked:
Why This Is the Best Time In History to Be a Spider-Man Fan
Source: Watch a Clip From the New Spider-Ham Short on the 'Spider-Verse' Blu-ray
Filed Under: Marvel, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse


text:
Revenue Risk Management
Category Archives: Financial Analysis and KPI's
Eight Common Myths about Business Risk
Written by Andrew Rudin
It seems everyone has an opinion about cholesterol. Most people know there are two types, good and bad. If you ask a friend, he or she will tell you to eat more of the good kind, and less of the bad. Makes sense to me.
Now, I've learned that's bunk. There's a bad version of good cholesterol that causes disease. And I learned there's a good version of bad cholesterol. Confused? Me too. From now on, I'm just going to refer to cholesterol by its chemical designation, C27 H46 O. That seems so much simpler.
The word risk suffers from the same confusion. Like cholesterol, risk is a thing. Neither good nor bad. What gives risk its mojo is context. As The Economist reported "Though changing appetites for risk are central to booms and busts, economists have found it hard to explain their determinants . . . the willingness to run risks varies enormously among individuals and over time."
What is risk? Webster defines it as "possibility of loss or injury." In most business contexts, risk has broader meaning, which I describe as uncertainty toward achieving a goal. Risks live in the gap between predictions and the actual result. The outcomes can be positive or negative.
Marketers and business developers have long used risk as a competitive weapon. "Buying from our company right now will protect you from falling hopelessly behind your competition." Such a great pitch! We've all used a flavor of it. But risk has always been a two-edged sword. Myths about risk skew assumptions and drive expectations into weird places.
Myth #1: "Customers decide based on facts!" Facts are only part of the decision-making apparatus. "Any decision relating to risk involves two distinct and yet inseparable elements: the objective facts and a subjective view about the desirability of what is to be gained, or lost, by the decision," wrote Peter Bernstein in his book, Against the Gods.
Myth #2: "Most customers perceive risks the same way." If every person had the same risk appetite or capacity, our financial markets could not function.
Myth #3: "Anything a vendor can do to mitigate risk will be rewarded with more and faster sales." If only it were that straightforward. Using that logic, wouldn't it be compelling for many executives to simply stick with the status quo? While most buyers don't want to absorb unnecessary risk, every solution creates new risks. So promoting the singular message of risk reduction might ring hollow. The key is to help buyers identify opportunities for eliminating unneeded risks, and to help them identify intelligent risks that are likely to return value to the company.
Myth #4: "Products with short time-to-value are less risky than those with longer time-to-value." Contrary to some sales assertions, there is rarely certainty about value achievement. If you latched onto this logic, buying a lottery ticket for next week's drawing would be less risky than buying a US savings bond.
Myth #5: "Showing a prospect the cost of inaction will lead to a sale." But that's only one side of the coin. Once funds are committed and a project has been initiated, companies often can't turn back. That can put them in a riskier position than companies that have retained their financial and technological options.
Myth #6: "Our strategy is fine. We just need to execute!" Strategic risk can have devastating consequences for shareholder value. Boo.com, Pets.com, The Learning Company. During the Tech Bubble, these companies and many others suffered significant losses in market capitalization because they had strategies that proved disastrous.
Myth #7: "My company doesn't have ethical risks." I often hear, "that sort of problem can't happen here." But it can. Almost everyone knows of a former co-worker (or more) who pushed the ethical envelope when selling to customers.
Myth #8: "Most risk can be managed with careful measurement." Measurements help, but not every major risk can be easily measured or predicted.
Just like cholesterol, what's bad risk in one context might be good in another. So it's best to recognize that the labels people slap on aren't necessarily accurate in every situation. Debunking myths about risk, and moving beyond its pejorative meaning will help people think about risk in new ways. Not as something that always has to be faced down and avoided, but as something that, when embraced intelligently, opens new opportunities.
A Sales Team Needs More Than "High ROI" and "Low TCO" to Compete
"How will your IT solution help me sell more pizza?"
That was the opening question one COO shot off to a sales team visiting his office to solicit his company's business.
The team had prepared for a far different discussion. As the COO explained it, following his question, the group looked like tongue-tied deer in the headlights. No one – not the account manager, the pre-sales engineer, the technical director, or the VP of marketing – offered a compelling answer or story. The PowerPoint they brought along was never used, even though it included a nifty slide about their corporate history, lots of technical information, and statistical charts showing ROI (Return on Investment) and TCO (Total Cost of Ownership). The meeting ended awkwardly, but was rescheduled for a later date. Let's just say that the car ride back to the airport wasn't upbeat.
The final outcome? It's described toward end of this blog. But this debacle illustrates why one of my clients, a large software developer, initiated a worldwide program to empower their resellers to shift from selling mainly "point projects" – small, one-time engagements that often involve a single department and typically have small budgets – to selling broad enterprise-level projects that span different divisions, departments, and operating entities.
Selling might be selling, but that's a paradigm shift. It doesn't happen by adding a few steps to the sales process, creating more content, or expanding the social media footprint.
Enterprise-level IT sales require sales teams to promote the strategic value of their offerings as much as projecting decent financial returns. As more and more enterprises adopt governance policies and balanced scorecards to ensure alignment between investments and strategy, the need to adopt sales approaches that go beyond "show them the numbers!" has never been stronger. I've had the opportunity to drive this metamorphosis more than once. It can be done.
But what's wrong with talking to prospects about ROI and TCO?
Nothing, other than the fact that many marketers and salespeople simply fail to put these metrics in any context. Here's a glaring example: One organization sent me an e-newsletter with the subject, Find The ROI In Your Asset Tracking Initiatives. But the accompanying article didn't draw any connections between ROI and strategy. The chink in the armor is clear: For me, ROI is attractive candy, until I find a higher, more certain number. Then that offering becomes the date that I want to take to the ball. I'm fickle that way, but no different from any other buyer. Find The ROI . . . isn't really visceral to decision makers who live and breathe strategy [read: C-Level executives].
Why does ROI/TCO messaging alone fail to excite people in a lasting way? Because the heavy lifting in sales involves exposing facts that prospects can believe, then learning whether they care about the issues, then encouraging them to act in order to solve them. Believe-Care-Act – BCA, if you're into acronyms. ROI and TCO are reasonably helpful for the believe stage, but marginally effective for persuading people to care. Without caring, who would be so bold to expect a person to act? "They just seem unmotivated to improve their status quo." It's a familiar refrain we voice when not enough caring occurs on the other side of the fence.
So, beyond ROI and TCO, how can a company gain a sales advantage?
To answer that question, let's look at how the sales team managed its setback with the pizza company COO. After returning to their office, the group took the time to formulate a set of questions about the growth strategy for the pizza company, including questions about finance, supply-chain logistics, CRM, and human resources. They gutted their original presentation, and met with the COO about two weeks later. Their project was approved and they won the opportunity.
What did the team figure out?
First, the team realized that revenue growth was paramount for their prospect, and that by positioning their offering as the choice that best enabled that outcome, their recommendations were more persuasive. By making the shift from a purely financial appeal to a strategic appeal, the sales team minimized the risk that their prospect would find stasis attractive.
Another important outcome occurred. Because strategic growth impacts every operating unit in an organization, the sales team opened relationships with a cross-functional team of senior executives. Prior to changing their approach, the vendor's sales team networked only in the IT department. And finally, the icing on the cake: the sales team was rewarded with another advantage they hadn't planned for or even anticipated – they faced fewer competitors. Why? Because everyone from IT solutions providers to bakery equipment manufacturers were playing the same-old, same old: "High ROI! Low TCO!" But only a handful of suitors were prepared to discuss why their unique pathway to the strategic holy grail was the best way to get there.
How did the sales team realign to address the COO's problem, and what steps did they follow from beginning to end?
The sales team didn't have to get spendy to upgrade their sales approach. They didn't change their product at all. They didn't invest in more certified engineers or support staff. They leveraged the competencies they already had. Through empathetic listening skills, systems analysis techniques, and business acumen, the sales team pulled out a win from a certain loss. No matter what you sell, knowing how your product will help your prospect sell more of what he or she sells will always be valuable.
Further reading: Strategic Questions Will Uncover Strategic Opportunities.
Can Sales Productivity, Ethics, and Shareholder Value Coexist?
"As practiced today, capitalism too often becomes a race to the bottom. In low-growth economies, a focus on earnings-per-share (EPS) is leading to more unemployment and deepening inequality," Mark Benioff of Salesforce.com wrote in The Huffington Post last week.
That's a far different message from what I learned as an undergraduate, where I was indoctrinated with the ideal that what was good for investors was good for customers, employees, and the world. Ahhhh. Simplicity!
But as an account executive at a publicly-held company, the investor credo, revenue-uber-alle, translated into a slightly different message for the sales force:
"I don't care how you make your sales number, as long as you make it!"
That was my sales manager's guidance on how to achieve quota. Plenty of wander-room on that pathway.
My manager made assumptions that the sales team had the knowledge, motivation, and integrity to deliver the required results. He didn't have the time or interest to micromanage anyone. At my company at the time, many salespeople got fat, dumb, and happy under such laissez-faire management. Ultimately, sales suffered in the face of unrelenting competitive pressure, shareholder demands, and product commoditization.
Policies changed. Not only did management measure results, they began to scrutinize sales activities as well. Thousands of other sales organizations facing the same forces created measurement spotlights under which few could hide.
Today, business needs and technology have converged, causing the productivity-management pendulum to swing even further toward Total Management Control. Are purveyors and users of sales productivity software tools telling us that salespeople are too stupid to figure out how to be productive? Are their managers too lame to manage? Pete Reilly, a senior vice president at RedPrairie, developer of the Ann Taylor retail labor productivity system ATLAS (see my blog, Please Buy From Me! The New Ann Taylor Shopping Experience) said "the [ATLAS] system will allow you to push [productivity initiatives] too far, but at the end of the day, it is based on business principals and how I treat my employees. That is really up to the retailer." His statement reveals his ambivalence. But it's clear that financial success depends on how businesses deploy productivity tools, and no one should assume that they understand what they are doing.
The most insidious dangers aren't created by productivity rules based on flawed assumptions or incorrect information. They're created when managers detach from the gut-wrenching ethical and personal conflicts imposed on the employees who are measured and managed. Scott Knaul, former director of store operations for Ann Taylor, revealed his own reasoning when he was quoted in the Wall Street Journal (Retailers Reprogram Workers in Efficiency Push, September 10, 2008) saying, "giving the [productivity] system a nickname, Atlas, was important because it gave a personality to the system so [employees] would hate the system and not us." Yes, that creeped me out, too.
What Mr. Knaul might be alluding to are torn emotions caused by Ann Taylor's institutionalized sales conflicts of interest—all in the name of productivity. To mention a few possibilities: "If I'm honest with my customer, I could lose this order, and possibly my job." "How do I spend time with my ailing parent and satisfy the minimum number of hours I must work to keep my time slot?" "As a single parent, how do I plan my weekly food purchases knowing my work schedule can be cut or changed at a moment's notice?" These poignant struggles are frequently the other side of productivity-improvement equations, unmentioned when numbers are bandied about at the quarterly management retreat.
If laissez-faire management contributes to complacency, and overbearing rules are tantamount to wielding a stick without offering any carrot, what works? For insight, I consulted a sales leader, Mark LaFleur, former VP of Worldwide Sales software developer GroupLogic. He tole me, "Understanding what causes sales to happen and managing metrics is critical to success, but sometimes it's easy to get so caught up in metrics that you lose sight of the big picture . . . Effectively managing your team's performance requires a balance between hard metrics and business instinct. I have found that there is no substitute for frequent, intensive one-on-one meetings with reps and sales managers, where you hold them accountable for understanding and articulating all aspects of their business and how they are tracking toward their revenue goals. Metrics are only one component of that discussion, and the key there is to develop practical metrics that really do lead to sales, communicate them clearly, and then hire disciplined sales people that are smart enough to understand their importance."
It's hard to find a starker contrast to the metrics-driven mindset at Ann Taylor. Still, it's troubling to think about the future clash between productivity improvement, business value, and work-life balance. Effective managers recognize both the power and limitations of productivity measures, and that we have the opportunity today to build shareholder value without exploiting the people who help deliver the value we produce for our customers.
Race and Gender Influence Customer Service Bonuses
Originally published 06/01/09
Are customer satisfaction surveys a fair and unbiased tool for for assigning employee bonuses?
No, according to a study published in the Academy of Management Journal, An Examination of Whether and How Racial and Gender Biases Influence Customer Satisfaction. According to lead author David Hekman, assistant professor of management at the University of Wisconsin, surveys "are highly reliable—but they are reliably wrong." The authors believe that customer satisfaction surveys are biased because they are "anonymous judgements by untrained raters that usually lack an evaluation standard."
Hekman conducted several experiments to measure customer satisfaction. In one experiment, subjects watched videotaped interactions between a bookshop sales clerk and customers, and were asked to imagine they were the customer and to rate the bookshop's service performance. Three actors played the part of the sales clerk—a white male, a black male, and a white female. All used identical settings and scripts.
The subjects shown the white male clerk rated the bookshop's service 19% higher than subjects who viewed the other two actors.
If we use customer satisfaction measures to assign bonuses, can we assume we're not compounding race and gender bias? If this assumption isn't correct, how can we make survey-influenced compensation systems fair? Could other attributes not measured in Hekman's study—for example, weight, age, and appearance—create similar results?
ROI Hype: Finance for Fools?
Originally published 1/7/10
ROI. Finance for fools? "Guidance" for the gullible? It's hard to say, but it's chic to pay homage to its numerology. Today I read an article that stated "In Social Media the Return on Investment (ROI) is based largely on the influence you have upon your group of friends." Clear as mud.
Have salespeople and marketers corrupted a useful financial equation—and made it so generic that it lacks meaning? To find out, I dusted off my lightly-used college textbook, Techniques of Financial Analysis, by Erich Helfert. Here's his definition, followed by an example:
"ROI = Average annual operating cash flow divided by net investment. = $25,000 divided by $100,000 = 25%."
Then he wrote, "With no reference to economic life . . . all the measure indicates is that $25,000 happens to be 25 percent of $100,000. Note that the same answer would be obtained if the economic life were 1 year, 10 years, or 100 years. In fact, the return shown would be true in an economic sense only if the investment provided $25,000 per year in perpetuity; only then could we speak of a true return of 25 percent." (If you sell a B2B solution and are willing to commit to that interpretation, please share your contact information below.)
Ignoring this not-so-trivial caveat, thousands of blogs, Tweets, conversations and sales proposals unabashedly pontificate ROI, a metric that ignores time and risk—two key business decision-making variables. How helpful is that? For insight, I contacted a person who understands the in's and out's of investment strategy, accounting professor Robert Kemp at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce.
He prefaced his comments by sharing that the overarching objective of an organization is to create value, and that organizations favor transactions in which value received is greater than value given up. That makes sense. And ROI enables decision-makers to uncover the answer?
Not exactly, he explained. "There are three questions about value that decision makers must answer: What do I get, when do I get it, and how certain are the answers to the first two questions?" He said that ROI can answer the first question, but not the second or third. Further complicating the sometimes-assumed precision of ROI is that financial executives don't regard the variables of cash flow benefits and investments consistently, because both are "subject to SWAG's in accrual accounting," according to Kemp. ROI's usefulness clearly has limits. Just ask anyone who invested with Bernie Madoff.
More robust calculations such as Net Present Value (NPV), which offsets the present value of cash outflows against the present value of cash inflows, consider time and risk. According to Robert Higgins, author of Analysis for Financial Management, "a crowning achievement of finance has been to transform value creation from a catchy management slogan into a practical decision-making tool that not only indicates which activities create value but also estimates the amount of value created." With that nifty endorsement, you'd expect business developers around to world to flavor conversations with NPV instead of ROI, but it hasn't happened.
Whether a business decision involves IT, Marketing, or Operations, Kemp believes that a key question to answer is "what is the value to the total organization if I approve a given initiative, versus what is the value if I do nothing? That requires comparing marginal benefit to marginal cost." He cautions that decision makers face a dangerous trap by exploring that question without looking into the future.
He illustrated the conundrum using Netflix and once-archrival Blockbuster, which used vastly different value-producing strategies. Thriving Netflix adopted a long-term view of the business value of web-enablement, and invested accordingly. Failed Blockbuster, bloated on their doomed late-fee cash cow, focused on maximizing current period earnings. Happily, Netflix executives didn't limit their investment analysis to performing a simple ROI calculation. If they did, they'd be sitting at the bar with ex-Blockbuster executives, talking about the good old days when decision makers could be fat, dumb and happy.
ROI hype creates numerical misalignment—with marketers and salespeople on one side, and CFO's and financial decision makers on the other. Ironically, when salespeople tout time- and risk-agnostic ROI, they reinforce the same dysfunctional short-term, Blockbuster-like thinking they're often trying to overcome.
But if ROI's calculus has flaws, why do vendors persist in using it when "proving the business case?" It's how we've been brought up. As marketers and salespeople, we aren't rewarded for casting doubt on what we sell. We're certain. We're confident. We succeed because we create concrete visions. In sales meetings, acknowledging risk and waffling about Time to Value grate like discordant musical notes. Little wonder that we resist embedding those variables in the calculations we offer to decision makers.
Kemp put it this way, "change creates enormous amounts of risk." But by hyping ROI, we conveniently sidestep that fact. We pretend it just doesn't exist. But our customers and prospects aren't stupid. They'll figure out what increases value—and what threatens it.
In sales, when we lose an opportunity, we sometimes say "the customer didn't buy the math." Maybe they don't buy the equation, either.
Call 7 0 3 . 3 7 1 . 1 2 4 2
Contrary Domino understands revenue risks from end to end and enables clients to improve financial performance by managing the risks that are the most consequential.
© Contrary Domino 2013-2016.
Website development by Crisp Point.


text:
package org.dswarm.controller.resources.job.test.utils;

import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.JsonNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.ObjectMapper;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ArrayNode;
import com.fasterxml.jackson.databind.node.ObjectNode;
import org.dswarm.controller.resources.job.test.model.PrepareConfiguration;
import org.dswarm.controller.resources.job.test.model.PrepareResource;
import org.dswarm.controller.resources.resource.test.utils.DataModelsResourceTestUtils;
import org.dswarm.controller.resources.resource.test.utils.ResourcesResourceTestUtils;
import org.dswarm.persistence.model.resource.Configuration;
import org.dswarm.persistence.model.resource.DataModel;
import org.dswarm.persistence.model.resource.Resource;
import org.dswarm.persistence.service.UUIDService;
import org.dswarm.persistence.util.DMPPersistenceUtil;
import org.hamcrest.CoreMatchers;
import org.hamcrest.Matchers;
import org.junit.Assert;

/**
 * Created by tgaengler on 04.03.16.
 */
public class TasksResourceTestUtils {

	public static DataModel prepareDataModel(final String resourceFileName,
	                                         final ObjectMapper objectMapper,
	                                         final ResourcesResourceTestUtils resourcesResourceTestUtils,
	                                         final DataModelsResourceTestUtils dataModelsResourceTestUtils) throws Exception {

		final PrepareResource prepareResource = new PrepareResource(resourceFileName, objectMapper, resourcesResourceTestUtils).invoke();
		final PrepareConfiguration prepareConfiguration = new PrepareConfiguration(prepareResource, objectMapper, resourcesResourceTestUtils).invoke();
		return prepareDataModel(prepareResource, prepareConfiguration, objectMapper, dataModelsResourceTestUtils);
	}

	private static DataModel prepareDataModel(final PrepareResource prepareResource,
	                                          final PrepareConfiguration prepareConfiguration,
	                                          final ObjectMapper objectMapper,
	                                          final DataModelsResourceTestUtils dataModelsResourceTestUtils) throws Exception {

		final Resource resource = prepareResource.getResource();
		final Resource res1 = prepareResource.getRes1();
		final Configuration conf1 = prepareConfiguration.getConf1();
		final Configuration configuration = prepareConfiguration.getConfiguration();

		final String dataModel1Uuid = UUIDService.getUUID(DataModel.class.getSimpleName());

		final DataModel data1 = new DataModel(dataModel1Uuid);
		data1.setName("'" + res1.getName() + "' + '" + conf1.getName() + "' data model");
		data1.setDescription("data model of resource '" + res1.getName() + "' and configuration '" + conf1.getName() + "'");
		data1.setDataResource(resource);
		data1.setConfiguration(configuration);

		// TODO: add schema to data1

		final String inputDataModelJSONString = objectMapper.writeValueAsString(data1);

		final DataModel inputDataModel = dataModelsResourceTestUtils.createObjectWithoutComparison(inputDataModelJSONString);

		Assert.assertNotNull("the data model shouldn't be null", inputDataModel);

		return inputDataModel;
	}

	public static void compareCSVTaskResultJSON(final ArrayNode expectedJSONArray,
	                                            final String expectedDataResourceSchemaBaseURI,
	                                            final ArrayNode actualJSONArray,
	                                            final String actualDataResourceSchemaBaseURI) {

		for (final JsonNode expectedNode : expectedJSONArray) {

			final String recordData = expectedNode.get(DMPPersistenceUtil.RECORD_DATA).get(0).get(expectedDataResourceSchemaBaseURI + "description")
					.asText();
			final JsonNode actualNode = TasksResourceTestUtils.getRecordData(recordData, actualJSONArray, actualDataResourceSchemaBaseURI + "description");

			// SR TODO use Assert.assertNotNull here?
			Assert.assertThat(actualNode, CoreMatchers.is(Matchers.notNullValue()));

			final ObjectNode expectedRecordData = (ObjectNode) expectedNode.get(DMPPersistenceUtil.RECORD_DATA).get(0);

			final ObjectNode actualElement = (ObjectNode) actualNode;
			ObjectNode actualRecordData = null;

			for (final JsonNode actualRecordDataCandidate : actualElement.get(DMPPersistenceUtil.RECORD_DATA)) {

				if (actualRecordDataCandidate.get(actualDataResourceSchemaBaseURI + "description") != null) {

					actualRecordData = (ObjectNode) actualRecordDataCandidate;

					break;
				}
			}

			Assert.assertThat(actualRecordData, CoreMatchers.is(Matchers.notNullValue()));

			Assert.assertThat(actualRecordData.get(actualDataResourceSchemaBaseURI + "description").asText(),
					Matchers.equalTo(expectedRecordData.get(expectedDataResourceSchemaBaseURI + "description").asText()));
		}
	}

	public static JsonNode getRecordData(final String recordData, final ArrayNode jsonArray, final String key) {

		for (final JsonNode jsonEntry : jsonArray) {

			final ArrayNode actualRecordDataArray = (ArrayNode) jsonEntry.get(DMPPersistenceUtil.RECORD_DATA);

			for (final JsonNode actualRecordData : actualRecordDataArray) {

				if (actualRecordData.get(key) == null) {

					continue;
				}

				if (recordData.equals(actualRecordData.get(key).asText())) {

					return jsonEntry;
				}
			}
		}

		return null;
	}
}


text:
Texas Music, Punk Music, India Business, More: Sunday Buzz, July 31, 2016
By ResearchBuzz on July 31, 2016 • ( Leave a comment )
The University of Texas at Arlington is developing an online archive to house music from folks in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. "David Arditi, a UTA assistant professor of sociology, is developing "MusicDetour – the DFW Local Music Archive," with three goals in mind: to house local music, develop big data that is open and available to all, and to build community…. MusicDetour will be hosted initially by UTA in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology's Center for Theory, but Arditi said future plans involve philanthropic efforts to fund student workers both for curation and greater web development."
Dischord Records (home of punk stalwarts like Minor Threat, Fugazi, etc) has uploaded its entire archive to Bandcamp. "Yes, every artist on the Dischord roster is now represented on its Bandcamp page, meaning that listeners can dive into the historic D.C. punk scene without needing an Apple Music or Spotify subscription…"
The country of India is getting a database of smaller businesses. "The relevant data concerning the country's 51 million Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) will be digitised soon, according to P Uday Kumar, Director, National Small Industries Corporation (NSIC)."
Microsoft has made the "Learning Tools for OneNote" addon available to everybody. "Learning Tools for OneNote is compatible with both OneNote 2013 and OneNote 2016 with the add-in available here. Otherwise, those who already have the preview of Learning Tools for OneNote installed can simply click the update button in the Learning Tools tab from within OneNote."
Ubergizmo has a roundup of reverse image search sites.
From Guiding Tech: Top 3 Apps for Live Translations with Your Smartphone Camera. I love these apps. They really do feel like magic.
Librarians/Libraries using Academic Search Complete: Karaline Wood has put up a nine-minute video on how search it effectively. The screen might look blurry, but that's because the autoplay (at least mine) is at 360p. Shift it up to 720p and it looks great.
The Vatican is refusing to release its Holocaust-era archives. "The debate over the church's secret wartime files is not new. The Vatican is the only country in Europe that refuses to open all of its World War II archives to independent historians and researchers. The issue is more than simply an academic debate over the appropriate rules for public disclosure of historically significant documents. The church's files are thought to contain important information about the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Eastern Europe."
Google, which made something over $4 billion in profit last quarter if I recall correctly, apparently is not keeping a close-enough eye on its Knowledge Graph scraping operations, or it doesn't mind repeating that stupid thing about Sarah Jessica Parker looking like a horse. "Google, it seems, had an algorithm hiccup and managed to connect the joke to Parker — which is good — while also insulting her on the Knowledge Graph result for her name — not so good — by adding the link to the infamous blog that started the long-running joke."
SECURITY/LEGAL ISSUES
Disney company Playdom has had a forum breach (PRESS RELEASE). "On July 12, 2016, unauthorized activity was detected on the playdomforums.com website, resulting in an immediate forensic investigation of the incident by Disney Consumer Products and Interactive Media (DCPI). The investigation found that an unauthorized party obtained usernames, passwords and email addresses for approximately 391,000 playdomforums.com accounts. The unauthorized party also obtained the Internet Protocol (IP) address collected during user registration on playdomforums.com. The Playdom Forum website does not collect credit card numbers or other sensitive personal information, such as Social Security numbers."
Ooops! SwiftKey had a bit of a data leak. "According to the reports, some users have discovered that when they surfed to websites with login pages that they were offered email addresses that weren't familiar to them. Some users even reported that they have received calls from complete strangers who found their number through SwiftKey's predictive text. As it turns out, this was a bug and an issue with SwiftKey's sync services."
RESEARCH AND OPINION
Researchers at Yahoo have developed an abuse-detecting algorithms. "The Yahoo team used a number of conventional techniques, including looking for abusive keywords, punctuation that often seemed to accompany abusive messages, and syntactic clues as to the meaning of a sentence. But the researchers also applied a more advanced approach to automated language understanding, using a way of representing the meaning of words as vectors with many dimensions." The technique has a success rate of about 90%, which is wow. Good morning, Internet…
Edwardian-Era Postcards, Rex Hospital, NARA, More: Saturday Buzz, July 30, 2016
Food Canning, World Sailing, Library Lending, More: Monday Buzz, August 1, 2016


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Install software patches, service packs and other updates As necessary Updates will usually be tested before being rolled out across the IT system.
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There are a couple of seemingly innocent objects out there that you probably don t have a clue are dangerous, but that have caused people to get injured over and over. One causes fractures and the other causes lacerations. One is on the floor and the other one is mounted on a wall. So what do you think?
When people get hurt in accidents involving these items, typically they are embarrassed and may think it's their fault or was a freak accident. They usually don t know it's an accident pattern that's happened over and over. As an attorney who has practiced for 30 years, when I see patterns like this, I know I am only seeing a very small percentage of the total similar events.
So what do you think I'm talking about?
Next time you walk into a grocery store, retail outlet or office building keep an eye out for the floor mats. Many businesses use cheap, poorly maintained and worn-out floor mats. They flip up and bunch up and cause trip hazards. Most people who stumble or trip over these mats don t get hurt, the incident never gets documented or reported, and it's an uneventful moment. However, there have been thousands of injuries and fractures caused by these mats. One case against a major national grocery store revealed hundreds of reported injury-causing mat claims in just one of their districts in a short period of time. Many lawyers don t take these cases because of the challenging case law involved in premises liability cases in Texas. But they can be successfully resolved with the right approach.
If you use one of these mats in your own business or where you work, try to get rid of it! There are many mats on the market that are well designed and don't have the tripping tendencies of the cheap, poorly maintained, worn-out mats. When you walk into a store or business, keep a look out for a bunched up or flipped over mat so that you don t become another mat statistic!
In all likelihood, the sink wasn t installed correctly. Wall-mounted sinks typically rest on a bracket. The bracket gets stressed over time and starts to give, and at some point in time the sink can pop off the bracket and crash to the ground. These sinks are designed with mounting bolt holes on the underside of the sink to provide additional support. Problem is, in the initial installation of the sinks that fail, the mounting support bolts haven't been utilized. So, don t put pressure on wall-mounted sinks. And if you have one in your business, take a look underneath and see if the support bolts were utilized to keep the sink from falling off the bracket.
If you hear about one of these events happening, give us a call. And keep an eye out so you are not a victim. If you see a bad mat or a poorly designed sink installation, bring it to the appropriate person's attention to prevent someone else's emergency room trip.


Talk to your teens about internet safety and the potential dangers an app like this can expose them to. Jury in David Drumm trial to resume deliberations tomorrow News 29 May. Weather Met Eireann warning remains in place as country braces for thunderstorms and 50mm of rain There's also a risk of flooding. The fake profile of the teenage girl was traced back to the defendant and on March 16, his Belfast home was searched. The teen, who was not named, was also said to have bitten his own arms and had blood around his mouth, but this was not recorded in the footage. Memos of the interviews with the accused were read to Judge David Riordan and a jury of 10 men and two women at Cork Circuit Criminal Court yesterday, the second day of his trial.
Kendra. attractive and very young looking eu blonde looking for a job tonight!
Further searches on his electronic items uncovered thousands of images of young girls in various stages of undress.