Man City and Barcelona could reportedly be set to clash on the transfer market as they are both seemingly eyeing a move for Luka Jovic.
The 21-year-old has been in fine form this season, scoring 25 goals and providing seven assists in 39 appearances for Eintracht Frankfurt during his loan spell from Benfica.
As noted by the Guardian last month, Barcelona have been tipped to launch a €50m bid for the Serbian forward once he completes a permanent move to the Bundesliga outfit this summer, although it's added that they value him closer to €70m.
In turn, it remains to be seen if the Catalan giants are willing to negotiate and reach an agreement to bolster their attacking options, with coach Ernesto Valverde certainly in need of doing so given he has little quality and depth beyond stalwart Luis Suarez in the current squad.
However, their touted pursuit of Jovic could have just become more complicated as The Sun report that City chief Txiki Begiristain was at Frankfurt's clash with Benfica in the Europa League on Thursday night and was specifically in attendance to keep a close eye on Jovic.
He didn't disappoint as he bagged a goal in the 4-2 defeat to the Portuguese giants, and so the City director will arguably have left the game with a positive impression of the youngster.
Time will tell if it's enough to challenge Barcelona for his signature, but given that Pep Guardiola is lacking firepower up front too, it would seem like a sensible signing.
Although the Spaniard has Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus at his disposal already, an injury to the former has raised concern at a crucial stage of the campaign.
Aguero has scored 29 goals this season, while he will turn 31 this summer. With that in mind, it might not be such a bad idea for Man City to start considering their options to add quality depth in the short term and a replacement in the longer term.


Who knew that Batman and Siri would ever sync up? The two are now a match made in heaven in this latest iOS update.
Siri has a huge database of sick burns for any iPhone user to try. However, the latest update is less of a sick burn and more of, kinda cute, actually.
If you have ever wanted to pretend to be Batman, or at least Lego Batman, now is your chance. However, make sure you don't choke on your milk cause this one is a funny one.
Siri will pretend to be your Batcomputer if you say "Hey 'puter" or "Hey computer." You don't even need to strain your vocal cords to get that perfect raspy tone of Batman. Just say it in your regular voice and let the fun fly!
In face, there is even a response if the Lego Batman movie left you craving lobster for weeks.
No doubt, the Batcomputer update will be remembered for years to come as one of Siri's classic comebacks. At first, I didn't really understand how a guy could actually fall in love with…well. a voice. On the other hand, if you're willing to play the part of Batman's batcomputer, I'd fall in love with you too.
Still not enough Lego Batman for you?Well, ever fear, Amazon is here!
The DVD will be out soon, pre-order it here so you and Siri can enjoy it together.
Chime in, what do you guys think? Have you tried it out with your iPhone yet? What did Siri say to you in response? Write it below in the comments section so we can all have a laugh.


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Rumburra Celebrate Award Win
The team at Rumburra is celebrating the latest achievement in our company's history! We are proud to reveal to our customers that after being nominated in the LUX Life Food & Drink Awards, we can now tell you we won in both categories! Rum-lovers that now buy Rumburra will be purchasing an award-winning rum! Click here to try it for yourself or to buy your bottle.
Best Rum 2020
Buy purchasing Rumburra, you will now be enjoying the Best Rum of 2020! You'll also experience the best product from a company that has won awards for its customer service. The Rumburra team scooped the Lux Customer Service Excellence Award 2020 alongside the best rum award.
Celebrating Our Heritage
Perhaps it was fate that our award win has been announced on both St Andrew's Day and the Independence Day of Barbados. Rumburra takes great pride in our heritage, with our rum being born in Barbados and raised in Scotland. When trying your award-winning rum, you'll enjoy the flavours of the Caribbean made with Scottish water. The result is a great tasting rum that is full of taste, providing lingering tastes of peach and a peppery hint.
Pardon Captain Kidd
The Rumburra story is influenced by privateer William Kidd. Kidd, a 17th-century privateer, sailed into the Caribbean with a commission from King William to catch pirates and their treasure.
Scottish-born Kidd not only gained bounties of gold & silver but a secret collection of rums, taken from his adventures in Barbados & the Caribbean.
Kidd was eventually arrested and sent to London for trial. The evidence that would have cleared his name of privacy mysteriously vanished, and he was sentenced to hang, where he insisted he was the "most innocent man."
Although Kidd's voyage came to an end, his spirit lives on. The secrets of his rum were discovered on the shores off Burra in 2019. This recipe is now back in Scottish hands, offering a rum that is born in Barbados & raised in Scotland.
Rumburra is pleased to support the Pardon Captain Kidd campaign. Find out more about the campaign here.
Buy Your Bottle of Award-Winning Rum Today
Join us in celebrating our award win, St Andrew's Day and the Independence Day of Barbados by purchasing your Rumburra bottle today. Click here to buy yours, with FREE delivery.
For businesses wanting to stock award-winning rum in their establishment, you can fill out our contact form or email info@rumburra.com.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The latest winners of a community projects fund, launched by British cooking appliance brand, Stoves, have been revealed.
The £10,000 Stoves Community Kitchens campaign aims to place the kitchen at the heart of local communities and enrich local community projects by helping to transform their cooking facilities. The competition saw applications flood in from across the UK, with more 5,000 votes being cast in the public vote.
The first prize of £5,000 of cooking appliances went to Kentish Town City Farm in Camden, London, which uses a 'field to fork model' to help people living in the city to connect with animals, nature and the environment. Kentish Town City Farm also provides an extensive educational programme to schools, therapeutic riding to people with special needs and farm related activities to local children and families.
Dunbar-based charity, The Ridge's Sunny Soups, which provides free soups to the local community when food budgets are tight, and gives volunteers new life and employment skills, came second, winning £3,000 of appliances and in third place, receiving £2,000 of appliances, was St. Helens-based community project, Ashtons Greens Community Allotments, which supports a number of community initiatives.
"We are beyond thrilled to have won this amazing competition," enthuses Mel Chamberlain, of Kentish Town City Farm. "It's really going to change some fundamental elements in the farm kitchen activities. We run several weekly cookery sessions for local children and families, teaching them the basics of healthy living and where their food comes from.
"Using our current ancient range cooker, it's all guesswork, and quite often goes a bit wrong. With this amazing gift, not only can we replace the oven but other appliances too.
"Christmas has definitely come early. Thank you to Stoves from the bottom of our giant saucepans."
Jane Rylands, of Stoves' parent company, Glen Dimplex Home Appliances, says of the competition: "We fully believe that the heart of the home - and the community - is the kitchen and so we are thrilled to be supporting theses fantastic causes and putting something back into the community."


Since I'll be using EasyLunchboxes this year for Lucy's school lunches, I have put together a list of some of my favorite lunch box ideas!
First we will start off with our first week of bento boxes!
Top Left: A PB&J cut to look like a dinosaur, a cutie, some blueberries and raspberries and some crinkle cut carrots.
Bottom Left: Homemade "lunchables," crackers, ham slices, cheese, two minty oreos, blueberries and some Doritos.
Bottom Right: A PB&J cut into a circle, some peanut butter pretzel snacks, blueberries and raspberries and crinkle cut carrots.
Don't forget to enter in my giveaway for your very own set of EasyLunchboxes!
This giveaway is available to US residents only.
Now to share some other bento box ideas!


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Interview: Designer Shayne Oliver of Hood By Air Talks His New Collection and Why Cam'ron Is A Style Icon
ByMatthew Henson
Fashion Editor for Complex Media.
Find him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram
Image via Complex Original
Shayne Oliver may not be a point of reference when jumping on the bandwagon of dressing like a street goth, like many famous rappers today, but it's important to know where the style came from, and at the very least give Shayne some credit for a silhouette he's been wearing on the streets of New York for years. Since the first season of his cult line, Hood By Air, Oliver has been perfecting a look all his own: the perfect blend of '90s streetwear staples like oversized tees, bold logos and graphics, mixed with a bit a of bondage (jeans made to look like chaps, and shorts with a detachable skirt). It might not sound like the most wearable clothing, but A$AP Rocky seems to think his T-shirts are the best, and we've even named him one of the 10 People About To Change The Style Game. In this interview he talks everything from DJing as half of Ghe20 G0TH1K, how the business of fashion can ruin your money, and why Cam'ron should be considered a style icon.
Interview by Matthew Henson (@matthematics)
For the people who don't know anything about you or the line, can you give us a little background on how you first started Hood By Air and the idea behind it?
Shayne: It basically started out as just T-shirts for friends. Then in '07, aNYthing picked it up. They bought a few pieces. With the resources from that, I kind of made a few cut and sew pieces. That's around the time that I met Raul. Raul knew about production and all that stuff. So once Raul came into the picture as far as production manager, like, we were able to make full on collections. Basically, we just kept flipping what we had. You know, make bigger collections and stuff like that.
You took over the brand, and it just became solely your vision and your idea?
Shayne: Yeah.
So now it's just you doing everything?
That's kind of amazing. How is that for you? Is it easier? Do you feel like you have more control?
Shayne: Um, I feel like, it feels better because I know what's going on. I know what's getting done and what's not getting done. So I don't have a feeling like, waking up in the middle of the night thinking, "What's going on with this?" It's really controlled. I still have a team of people that are there for me in the ways that I need them. Leilah (Shayne's close friend, Leilah Weinraub who is a film and video director) helps me out a lot. Basically, I feel more confident because I know exactly what's going on.
Everybody knows Hood By Air Classics because that's the T-shirt line. Are you going to be doing the full ready-to-wear collection again in the future?
Shayne: Yes. Well you know, I felt like, in the break, I guess a lot of... you want me to go off?
Go Off!
Shayne: I felt like a lot of the concepts that I had been working on and building were being used. I felt like building an actual structure for the company. So when I do something, people are paying attention and they get the full vision. I think like, maybe by this upcoming September or February, I'm definitely going to do something. I'm going to start easing back into the collection. I'm going to start mixing the ready to wear pieces with the classics, to build a lifestyle that way.
I remember when you had a huge show at one of those now-closed clubs on the West Side. Even from early on, you had a really strong vision as far how you thought men should be dressing. Without naming names, there's a big fashion house in Paris whose current collections almost mirror things you did back then. How do you go on from there?
Shayne: I feel like it's all about mastering the look.
Because it's something that you created?
Shayne: Yeah. Doing it the best way possible with the resources that I have. I feel like, that's the most important thing for me right now. Having the resources so I can master this look. To the point where it doesn't even matter. I feel like houses go in and out of trends. They're gradually going to be moving out of it, and I'm still going to be there doing what I do.
Leila: I think the fucked up thing about copying or when a huge label copies, is that they're going to use that idea once. So they don't know where that come from. You can't reproduce that season over season. You can't focus on it, and develop it and then turn those ideas out over and over and over again. They're going to play that style out and that'll be it.
Where are you from originally because I have no idea, you never talk about that?
Shayne: I was born in Minnesota. I grew up in the Caribbean, in Trinidad. Then when I was like 11, I moved to East New York.
That's where the bangy comes from?
Shayne: Right!
Do you feel like you hold on to your roots from Minnesota? I don't see anything country about your look today or in your designs.
Shayne: Minnesota is more of admiration of the Hoodness. Minnesota has a lot of people that migrate from St. Louis or Detroit so it's like really, really gutter. I got a sense of "glamour meets street" from that whole scene. Nobody could afford really good clothes, but everybody would find things to make their outfit look really good. Whether it was jewelry or hair. I got a sense of this like aesthetic from there. I mean really everywhere. Trinidad is where I get the like sexually suggestive stuff from.
Yes, there's a certain perversion to Hood By Air.
Shayne: It's crazy down there in Trinidad, I have to draw off of that.
I know its hard as a creative person but if you could you articulate who the guy is that wears your clothing? Is there a point where you can pin point it and say he's this and he's that?
Cam'ron changed everything; he made men feel okay with being bold.
Shayne: I think the aesthetic to me is in the garment itself. I try to make the garment tell the story, and the story is in the visual effect and in the garment itself. With me growing up around women, I feel like me being in menswear is like this territory where I'm like suggesting and playing around with. So it's like more of like an exotic place for me.
Onto your love of music, from The New York Times, if you read any music blog, they talk about GHE20 G0TH1k, the trip-trap dance party, which you've been doing for years. Do you still DJ?
Shayne: Yeah. We're (Shayne and his partner Venus X) going to start doing GHE20 G0TH1K again. I love DJing. Outside of the collections, it was how I was making petty cash when I was younger, and I guess with the fame of GHE20 G0TH1K, it propelled this thing I was doing for a while to do with my friend Venus, us blending our favorite beats and sounds and it became a recognizable statement. So I feel like, with her DJ history and mine as well, we made an impact.
Do you think that music affects your design?
Shayne: Yeah, for sure. I can't see myself doing something that isn't music-based. If its a video I'm doing, there has to be music. The music will go with it. Everything is visual, you can see sounds.
We did an interview with A$AP Bari, and he spoke very highly of you. He basically was saying how much he admired you and how he felt so strongly about Hood By Air. What you're doing inspired him to come out with his own line.
Shayne: He's taking on the spirit that I was hoping that younger guys would take on. He's actually living it. So it' s so cool to see it actually play out and even how it transcended into Rockys' style and all of that is such a world now. I have high hopes for him. I give him tips, I give him resources, he's like a really cool kid.
We did a list of The 50 Most Stylish New Yorkers Right Now and we put Rocky as number 1 because of he has a definitive style that's kind of to the left of what most people are doing. He wears a lot of Hood By Air. When I was in London he was performing in it. It was really dope to see. There were kids in there like "what T-shirt is he wearing?" What is Hood By Air? It's crazy to know you have a cult following.
Shayne: Yeah that's really cool. I'm really happy with that. You know, for a while, I didn't know how to handle people liking my clothing, I can be really introverted. So I kind of like to talk through my clothing, so that's like me talking to people through my clothes. It's good to like have a language.
Who are some guys that you think have some great style?
Shayne: Cam'ron. He changed everything; he made men feel okay with being bold, and going off with their clothes.
I agree, think Cam is really good example of being untraditionally stylish.
Shayne: The idea that you can be that masculine and that pretty at the same time changed America.
He was super Harlem. Fresh hair cut, big ear rings. Now that you have your own line and a bit of a following, do you still shop often?
Shayne: No, at this point I guess people give me stuff. So I just kind of pull stuff together mix it with my own pieces.
Who are some of your favorite designers?
Shayne: I always loved my friends' designs, just because I knew where it was coming from. So, like Telfar for sure. Oh and I like Phoebe Philo. She's not my friend, but she's really good.
Did the retail environment ruin your passion for design when you first started Hood By Air? I know that a lot of places kind of fucked up the fun and messed up your money in the early years. How do you plan on doing it differently this time around? Where do you think your clothes should be or where do you want your clothes to be?
Shayne: I am trying to work with stores that I feel like I can trust — that I'm actually building a friendship and relationship with, as opposed to offering a collection based off delivery dates. I really like people that appreciate what's actually happening. I feel like sometimes buyers just do it because they're like "oh, it's hot." They kind of just don't understand what's going on. That's why Opening Ceremony's really important in that sense because they get it; they fully get it. They're almost like family at this point.
It's great to hear that from you because it's a tough environment out there, and to hear that you're going to be doing all of these things is impressive.
Shayne: That's what I'm really focused on. I almost feel like it's more about the message right now than anything else. Like the garment represents something more than "oh that's hot" or something like that. That's really important to me.
InterviewsEditor's PickHood By AirInterview MagazineShayne Oliver


The English Professor Sir Robert Winston quotes the figure of 82% of conceptions being twins but only 7% ending up in live full-term births. This information is now more obvious as ultrasound scanning becomes routine. Twins are seen early in the pregnancy and then not in later scans, one baby usually disappearing in the first trimester. There may have been blood or tissue loss or the twin has just disappeared, hence the term "Vanishing Twin Syndrome'.
This loss can be overwhelming and yet it is necessary to continue with the pregnancy. Parents have to deal with both the feelings of grief but also joy for the surviving baby, all being experienced at the same time. The months ahead may be an anxious waiting time too with concern about the health of the remaining baby.
For the families, there is grief also for the loss of the 'twin experience'. Researchers are only just beginning to acknowledge and understand that the twin that remains can also be affected.
Further contact information is under our Website section.


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Pebble is Officially Joining Fitbit and There is a Lot to Take In, Pebble Owners
Kellen December 7, 2016 24
Last week, word snuck out suggesting that Pebble was joining Fitbit for around $40 million. While we don't have official numbers just yet, the acquisition is indeed official and Pebble will shutdown as some of their team members and technology make their way over to the wearable king. If you are a Pebble owner or had a pre-order in on future products, you'll want to read along as there are tons of things happening here.
For one, Pebble is done "promoting, manufacturing, [and] selling any devices." That means you can't buy anything from their store and they aren't making any new devices. That also means that if you pre-ordered any of their newest products or have unfilled Kickstarter items, you either won't be charged for those items or you'll see a refund. Again, Pebble is no longer selling anything.
As for continued support going forward, Pebble says that devices will "continue to work as normal." However, they also mention that no "immediate" changes to the Pebble user experience will happen just yet, but the door is open there. You should know that "functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future" as well.
Oh, and warranty support "is no longer available for Pebble watches." That's right, your warranty is gone, unless you bought your watch from a retailer and they have some other kind of warranty.
Here is the full list of what's happening with Pebble support, devices, and orders:
Pebble is no longer promoting, manufacturing, or selling any devices.
Pebble devices will continue to work as normal. No immediate changes to the Pebble user experience will happen at this time.
Pebble functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future.
Kickstarter backers who have not received their rewards will receive a full refund within 4-8 weeks as a chargeback to their credit cards. No further action is needed. For more information, please visit our Support page.
Orders from pebble.com are no longer being accepted or fulfilled, including Pebble 2 pre-orders, which have not yet been charged or shipped.
Warranty support is no longer available for Pebble watches. How-to information and troubleshooting can still be found on our Support page and in the Pebble Forum.
Returns of pebble.com orders that were successfully completed before December 7, 2016 will be refunded by our Support Team.
Pebble watches purchased at retail may be returned or exchanged based on the retailer's return policy.
Pebblers can still find replacement charging cables and other compatible accessories (bands, skins, etc.) from Amazon.com and third-party vendors like GadgetWraps and Clockwork Synergy.
Specific Kickstarter info:
No further action is needed. Eligible backers will automatically be refunded their pledges for any unfulfilled Pebble rewards (Time 2, Core, Time Round), plus any shipping, taxes, or duties paid.
The small number of Pebble 2 backers who did not submit the information required to finalize their reward shipments will also be refunded.
Successfully-received Pebble 2 rewards are the only item not eligible for a Kickstarter pledge refund.
Backers who ordered add-on Pebble devices to their Pledge Portals after the campaign closed may have seen a temporary authorization charge, which reversed automatically a few days later.
Refunds are automatically issued to the payment card the original Kickstarter pledge was placed with.
If the original pledge payment method is no longer active, backers must contact the financial institution that issued the card to receive the returned funds.
Backers outside of the United States will receive refunds equal to the $USD amount of their pledges at current exchange rates. There will be no adjustments to account for exchange rate fluctuations between the original pledge payment and the upcoming refund.
As for the Fitbit side of this, Fitbit announced via press release that they bought "key personnel and intellectual property related to software and firmware development," but want nothing to do with Pebble's hardware. So yeah, Pebble's time is done, your products will work for a while, and Fitbit will hope to incorporate some of their expertise into Fitbit's products.
Not to get to gloomy here, but this whole thing, especially the Pebble posts, reads so sad. It's as if you can tell that Pebble was up high a couple of years back and has been struggling for years to re-gain former glory all the while barely making it by. The steady decline has left them with no choice but to be acquired, when I think it's safe to say that they would rather have stayed independent.
It's hard out here.
Via: Pebble | Fitbit
Chrome 55 Update for Android Brings Easy Downloads of Webpages for Offline Reading
OnePlus 3T Review


Within the first four years, more than 50 percent of startups fail to survive because of their incompetence, absence of defined goals, lack of experience, or fraud. The irony is that even those companies which are thriving initially tend to lose their focus because of pride and too much self-confidence.
While running a business, the learning process never ends and the need to advertise your service or product arises even before it's ready to be presented. As soon as you are serious about your startup idea, start talking about it and work on the elements which will make it an instant success.
The laborious task of knowing the needs of the people should be your priority. You need to know whether your idea is worth it or not before you proceed. The response from a few individuals might actually help you in polishing the idea in a way that it becomes more appealing to the masses. It is after gaining insight into the demands of the customers, we can attract them through our meticulous digital marketing tactics.
No idea is new! The thought which just occurred to you might have already been transformed into a physical product by someone else in the industry. The trick is to gain knowledge about their execution plan and make yours entirely different and more interesting. Nullify the notion that just because McDonald's is already an established brand, Wendy's can't make it big. It did without making the former go out of business.
If you are thinking of buying a new phone, won't you first go online and compare the different models which are under your consideration? Making use of a comparison website, you will determine whether iPhone X is what you want or if it is the Samsung Galaxy S8. When we are so careful before making a purchase, we should also act similarly while launching a business idea. Compare it with other ideas of the same nature so that we can find a strong point which will be the highlight of our digital marketing strategy.
If you don't have an online presence, you don't have any at all. According to the renowned author, Seth Godin, "Content marketing is the only marketing left." Any type of content, whether it is text, image, or video, will make its way to the screens of the people in no time, especially if you are employing strong SEO techniques for it. Just make sure to be at the top of search results and your brand will be the next thing everyone is talking about.
To show that your startup actually has some spark in it, be exceptional in all the dimensions, including market research, product development, and digital marketing strategies. You definitely need to have what it takes to be different amidst such cut-throat competition; otherwise, four years down the line, your startup will become a part of history.


Welcome to the enthralling world of Orience, where a turbulent war of nations threatens to tear the land apart. Rendered in rich and vivid High Definition for PlayStation 4, prepare for an adventure of gritty emotional storytelling and high stakes battles.
Choose from 14 playable warriors, each with distinctive weapons, abilities and combat styles – and take the fate of the world and its four crystals on your shoulders.
Step into the fray as Class Zero, a group of students from an elite military academy whose country is attacked by an aggressive neighbouring Empire. In the brutal and harrowing struggle that follows, you must engage a range of powerful magical and combat abilities using a new and exciting battle system, to defeat the Empire and uncover the secrets behind the war.
Start your journey into a devastating adventure.


April 8, 2017 Comments Off on Is Your Sunscreen Saving Your Skin but Harming the Environment?
2 Days Of Dive Training – Is It Enough?
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The cosy café is located along the main route of the fortress, in a wooden house in the old Russian merchants' quarter. Delicious cakes and other pastries, a soup of the day, special coffees and refreshments are on offer.
Catering can be ordered from Café Vanille for meetings and parties held at Suomenlinna's rentable conference and banqueting facilities. Picnic baskets can also be ordered from the café.
The café is open daily in summer and at weekends in winter. The opening hours can be found in the calendar.
Accessibility: There is a staircase at the entrance to the café.


Jobs with a jobs killer?
Jackson is correct to point out that the way books, newspapers and magazines are sold has changed. As he points out, you do not need to go to a Borders or a Barnes & Noble to get these things. You can simply fire up your iPad. Of course, what he fails to mention is that you can also fire up your Kindle, your smart phone, your Mac, your PC, your Android tablet, your Barnes & Noble Nook or other device. As such, to lay the blame on the iPad is rather unfair. If the iPad is killing jobs, then it is not a lone killer, but part of an ever growing pack of killers.
There is, of course, the question of whether these devices are killing jobs.
In regards to Borders, it seems unfair to blame its demise solely on the iPad or other such devices. After all, Amazon has been selling physical books at a significant discount for some time, which certainly has had an impact on brick and mortar retailers such as Borders. It also seems reasonable to consider that Borders might also bear some blame in its demise in terms of its management and approach to changes in technology and consumer behavior.
These changes will (and have) resulted in job losses. After all, the digital market is expanding as the paper market is shrinking. Part of this shrinkage is due to factors other than the expansion of the digital market, but it is clearly a factor. Of course, the iPad and other devices are merely the latest news in a process that has been going on since the advent of the personal computer. Just as the telephone eliminated jobs (such as those in the telegram business), the iPad and its ilk will also help eliminate jobs. However, these devices also create jobs. After all, people have to make them, sell them, repair them, and so on. Also, people still have to create the content that is being sold on these devices, ranging from apps to books to movies. As such, while the growing digital economy is eliminating jobs in some areas, it is clearly creating jobs elsewhere.
Of course, there is still the legitimate question of whether or not the jobs being created are replacing the jobs lost to Americans. After all, the Borders jobs went mainly to Americans, while the iPads and their ilk are made in China and other places outside of the United States. While much of the content for these devices is created in the United States, there is also the question of whether or not these jobs offset the losses created by the shifting economy. This is, of course, an empirical matter.
As a final point, even if the iPad and its fellows are killing jobs by changing the nature of how content is sold and delivered, there is the question of what Congress should do about it, if anything. After all, such significant changes in technology (as noted above) always lead to changes in the way the economy works and trying to hold back these changes by law would most likely be a cure that is worse than the disease.


Since the beginning of November 2018, the great Chinese interest in the high-quality Thies climate measurement technology can be served directly from Shanghai.
The rapidly growing industrialization requires suitable products for weather and climate monitoring. This opens up a variety of applications for state-of-the-art technology from Germany.
Our local employees are the contact persons for our Chinese business partners and interested parties right from the start.
The new standard contains the classification of classes A, B, C, D and S.
For all applications where no sufficient GPS signal is available, or is received only in insufficient quality, we recommend a RDS/DAB+ receiver as alternative to GPS for a reliable time synchronization.
We will offer our WSC11 weather stations, soon, alternatively with RDS/DAB+ Receiver.
The Ultrasonic Anemometer WP serves for the 2-dimensional acquisition of the horizontal components of the wind velocity and wind direction.
It has been developed especially for the application in harsh environments, and is eminently suited for the use on wind power plants thanks to the compact construction and low weight. The serial or analogue output of the data occurs optionally as instantaneous value or as moving average value with settable time frame.
If necessary, the instrument is automatically heated at critical ambient temperatures. The risk of malfunction by freezing is thus minimized. The ultrasonic transducers are heated, as well as all essential housing components.
Compared with the classic anemometer, the measuring principle allows an inertiafree measurement of quickly changing parameters at highest precision and accuracy. The measuring values can be delivered digitally and / or analogously.
The instrument combines the more than 20 years' experiences with ultrasonic sensors in the field of meteorological measuring technique in the Thies company.
The datalogger records measuring values via two serial interfaces RS485/422, and via integrated analogue and digital input channels. The serial interfaces are designed for the connection of sensors with THIES data protocol. It is possible to connect up to 32 devices to one bus. The analogue inputs serve for connecting a humidity temperature sensor with PT100, and voltage output, and up to three sensors with voltage output 0 … 10 V. The digital inputs support the direct connection of a wind direction transmitter with synchronous-serial output, and two precipitation meters with pulse output.


Held the second weekend in July since 1967, this PRCA Pro Rodeo event is fun for the whole family, with the rodeo Friday and Saturday night, and Sunday afternoon.
The rodeo parade is Saturday morning, downtown; and an after rodeo dance Friday and Saturday night.
The Cheney Rodeo and rodeo grounds are operated and maintained entirely by volunteers. We always need helping hands. Contact us about volunteering.


This post may contain affiliate links. Click here for my affiliate disclosure. If you purchase items through my affiliate links, I receive a small commission but your price doesn't change. Who doesn't love a good mac and cheese? Who doesn't savor each and every bite even more if it's healthy and guilt-free?


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Search for "Atlantic Canada"
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Responsible government refers to a government that is responsible to the people. In Canada, responsible government is an executive or Cabinet that depends on the support of an elected assembly, rather than a monarch or their representatives. A responsible government first appeared in Canada in the 1830s. It became an important part of Confederation. It is the method by which Canada achieved independence from Britain without revolution.
Comprehensive Land Claims: Modern Treaties
Comprehensive land claims are modern-day treaties made between Indigenous peoples and the federal government. They are based on the traditional use and occupancy of land by Indigenous peoples who did not sign treaties and were not displaced from their lands by war or other means. These claims, which are settled by negotiation, follow a process established by the federal government to enable First Nations, Inuit and Métis to obtain full recognition as the original inhabitants of what is now Canada. Settlement of these claims comprises a variety of terms including money, land, forms of local government, rights to wildlife, rights protecting language and culture, and joint management of lands and resources. Treaties are constitutionally protected, mutually binding agreements. Those signed by Indigenous peoples between 1701 and 1923 are commonly referred to as historic treaties, and modern treaties refer to those agreements negotiated since then.
Vancouver Feature: Japanese-Canadians Held at Hastings Park
For a century the Pacific National Exhibition has entertained families each summer with a mix of hair-raising Midway rides, live music and agricultural exhibits. But in 1942 the fun fair was a prison camp for thousands of displaced Japanese-Canadians
Siksikáí'powahsin: Blackfoot Language
Siksikáí'powahsin (commonly referred to as the Blackfoot language) is an Algonquian language spoken by four Blackfoot nations: the Siksiká (Blackfoot), Aapátohsipikani (North Piikani), Aamsskáápipikani (South Piikani) and Kainai (Blood). While there are some dialectal differences between these groups, speakers can generally understand one another. Blackfoot is an endangered language; since the 1960s, the number of new speakers has significantly decreased. The development of language programs and resources in Canada and the United States seek to preserve the language and promote it to new speakers.
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK)
Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (formerly known as the Eskimo Brotherhood of Canada) is a national advocacy organization that promotes awareness about political, social, cultural and environmental issues that impact Inuit communities, from the Inuvialuit Settlement Region in the Northwest Territories, to Nunavut, Nunavik in Northern Québec, Nunatsiavut in Northern Labrador and land claims regions.
Voyageurs were independent contractors, workers or minor partners in companies involved in the fur trade. They were licensed to transport goods to trading posts and were usually forbidden to do any trading of their own. The fur trade changed over the years, as did the groups of men working in it. In the 17th century, voyageurs were often coureurs des bois — unlicensed traders responsible for delivering trade goods from suppliers to Indigenous peoples. The implementation of the trading licence system in 1681 set voyageurs apart from coureurs des bois, who were then considered outlaws of sorts. Today, the word voyageur, like the term coureur des bois, evokes the romantic image of men canoeing across the continent in search of furs. Their life was full of perilous adventure, gruelling work and cheerful camaraderie.
Fatty Legs
Fatty Legs (2010) is a memoir about a young Inuvialuit girl's two years at a religious residential school. It is based on the experiences of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton, who cowrote the novel with her daughter-in-law Christy Jordan-Fenton. Published by Annick Press, the book features illustrations by Liz Amini-Holmes and archival photographs from Pokiak-Fenton's personal collection. Fatty Legs was a finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. It received many other nominations and was named one of the 10 best children's books of the year by the Globe and Mail.
In 1841, Britain united the colonies of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada. This was in response to the violent rebellions of 1837–38. The Durham Report (1839) laid out the guidelines to create the new colony with the Act of Union in 1840. The Province of Canada was made up of Canada West (formerly Upper Canada) and Canada East (formerly Lower Canada). The two regions were governed jointly until Confederation in 1867. Canada West then became Ontario and Canada East became Quebec.
Medicine Bundles
Medicine bundles (also called "sacred bundles"), wrapped collections of spiritually significant items, were the focus of most Indigenous spiritual rituals in the Plains region (see Plains Indigenous Peoples in Canada). A bundle might be a few feathers wrapped in skin or a multitude of objects such as animal skins, roots, or stone pipes inside a rawhide bag.
Congress of Aboriginal Peoples
The Congress of Aboriginal Peoples speaks primarily for Non-Status Indian people and the Métis population in Canada, as well as for some other Indigenous	groups (see Indian Act). In 1993, under the leadership of Jim Sinclair, the Congress of Aboriginal Peoples (CAP) grew out of a reorganization of the Native Council of Canada (NCC). Since its founding in 1971, the central objective of the NCC, and now CAP, has been to represent the interests of off-reserve Status and Non-Status Indians, Métis and some Inuit people.
Rebellion in Upper Canada
The 1837 rebellion in Upper Canada was a less violent, more limited affair than the uprising earlier that year in Lower Canada. However, its leaders, including William Lyon Mackenzie, were equally serious in their demands. They wanted democratic reform and an end to the rule of a privileged oligarchy. The rebellion itself failed, but its very failure helped pave the way for moderate and careful political change in British North America. This included the union of Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada and the eventual introduction of responsible government.
The American Response to the Canadian Rebellions of 1837–38
By December 1837 and January 1838, rebels from Upper and Lower Canada had suffered heavy defeats at the hands of British and Loyalist forces. (See: Rebellion in Lower Canada; Rebellion in Upper Canada.) They fled to the United States to seek financial and military assistance. The American public was aware that there had been armed conflicts in the Canadas. Many were even initially supportive. However, the presence of Canadian rebels on American soil forced many to question American involvement. The growing tensions with Great Britain over the Caroline Affair complicated matters. The creation of the Republic of Texas and the fight over the abolition of slavery were also factors. In January 1838, US President Martin Van Buren took steps to ensure America's neutrality in the Canadian rebellions.
Quebec Act
Royal Assent on 22 June 1774 and put in effect on 1 May 1775, the Quebec Act (An Act for making more effectual Provision for the Government of the Province of Quebec in North America) revoked the Royal Proclamation of 1763. Contrary to the proclamation — which aimed to assimilate the French Canadian population — the Quebec Act was passed to gain the loyalty of the local French-speaking majority of the Province of Quebec. Based on the experiences of Governors James Murray and Guy Carleton, it, amongst other things, guaranteed the freedom of worship and restored French property rights. The Act, however, had dire consequences for Britain's North American empire. Considered one of the five "Intolerable Acts," the Quebec Act was one of the direct causes of the American Revolution. It was followed in 1791 with the Constitutional Act.
Rupert's Land
Rupert's Land was a vast territory of northern wilderness. It represented a third of what is now Canada. From 1670 to 1870, it was the exclusive commercial domain of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and the primary trapping grounds of the fur trade. The territory was named after Prince Rupert, the HBC's first governor. Three years after Confederation, the Government of Canada acquired Rupert's Land from the HBC for $1.5-million. It is the largest real estate transaction (by land area) in the country's history. The purchase of Rupert's Land transformed Canada geographically. It changed from a modest country in the northeast of the continent into an expansive one that reached across North America. Rupert's Land was eventually divided among Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories.
Treaty 3
On 3 October 1873, the Saulteaux band of the Ojibwa peoples and the Government of Canada signed Treaty 3, also known as the North-West Angle Treaty. This agreement provided the federal government access to Saulteaux lands in present-day northwestern Ontario and eastern Manitoba	in exchange for various goods and Indigenous rights to hunting, fishing and natural resources on reserve lands. The terms and text of Treaty 3 set precedents for the eight Numbered Treaties that followed.
Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada
It is difficult to generalize about definitions of Indigenous rights because of the diversity among First Nations, Métis and Inuit peoples in Canada. Broadly speaking, however, Indigenous rights are inherent, collective rights that flow from the original occupation of the land that is now Canada, and from social orders created before the arrival of Europeans to North America. For many, the concept of Indigenous rights can be summed up as the right to independence through self-determination regarding governance, land, resources and culture.
Rebellion in Lower Canada
In 1837 and 1838, French Canadian militants in Lower Canada took up arms against the British Crown in a pair of insurrections. The twin rebellions killed more than 300 people. They followed years of tensions between the colony's anglophone minority and the growing, nationalistic aspirations of its francophone majority. The rebels failed in their campaign against British rule. However, their revolt led to political reform, including the unified Province of Canada and the introduction of responsible government. The rebellions also gave French Canadians one of their first nationalist heroes in Louis-Joseph Papineau.
Abortion in Canada
Abortion is the premature ending of a pregnancy. Inducing an abortion was a crime in Canada until 1988, when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the abortion law as unconstitutional. Since then, abortion has been legal at any stage in a woman's pregnancy, and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the Canada Health Act. However, access to abortion services differs across the country, and abortion remains one of the most divisive political issues of our time.
Editorial: William Lyon Mackenzie and the Rebellion in Upper Canada
At 8:00 p.m. on Monday, 4 December 1837, William Lyon Mackenzie set out by horse down Yonge Street to scout the route for his attack on Toronto. At the top of Gallows Hill (below St. Clair Ave.) he met Tory alderman John Powell, himself on patrol from the city. Mackenzie and his men took Powell prisoner. "Do you have a gun?" Mackenzie asked Powell. "No," Powell replied. Mackenzie took his word as a gentleman and sent him back toward the rebel headquarters at Montgomery's Tavern.
Omar Khadr Case
Omar Khadr is a Toronto-born Canadian, captured by American soldiers after a firefight in Afghanistan in 2002, when he was 15 years old. The only minor since the Second World War to be convicted of purported war crimes, Khadr was imprisoned in Guantanamo Bay and Canada for almost 13 years in total. In 2010, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that Khadr's detainment violated "the principles of fundamental justice" and "the most basic Canadian standards about the treatment of youth suspects." Despite repeated attempts by the Canadian government to keep him in prison, Khadr was released on bail in May 2015. In July 2017, he received $10.5 million in compensation from the government for Canada's role in violating his constitutional rights. In March 2019, an Alberta judge declared that Khadr had completed his war crimes sentence, making him a free man.


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DMG MORI Sailing Team
School Meet & Greet: Kojiro visited his young fans in France
Sailing World DMG MORI Sailing Team Vendée Globe Global One Sports Marketing
07/15/2021|DMG MORI SAILING TEAM
Last week was all about the youngest generation of sailing fans. Skipper Kojiro Shiraishi visited two schools in France to talk with the pupils about his big Vendée Globe adventure – and why it is worthwhile to keep going until one's dreams come true.
First stop: ecole Sainte Anne Montournais in the French region Vendée. The director of the school approached Kojiro during a golf round prior to the Vendée Globe 2021 and gave him a special souvenir for his journey around the world with the DMG MORI Global One –Tchoupi, well known to all children, is the mascot of the school. After months on stormy seas, Kojiro has now brought the mascot back. Kojiro's words: "Tchoupi was always smiling at me not only during hard moments but also in happy moments. I had to tell myself to become like Tchoupi and always smile no matter how hard my day was". He will be back on board for the Vendée Globe 2024.
The second school is in a place Kojiro knows only too well: Les Sables d'Olonne, start and finish of the Vendée Globe. He has already visited the school before the 2016 edition of the race. The pupils know the DMG MORI Skipper and his story. Also how he had to give up the regatta in 2016 due to his broken mast. At the time, he could not achieve his dream of becoming the first Asian person to finish the so-called "Everest of the Seas". Now it was his heart's desire to go back to the school and tell the students why it is worthwhile to continue and fight for his dreams. The message was to tell the children to never give up no matter how hard life is. He also spoke about the ocean pollution and the microplastic problem we are encountering.
For Kojiro, this was certainly not the last visit to his young fans - at the very latest, he will be back when he picks up the mascot Tchoupi for the next trip around the world.
School Meet & Greet with Kojiro and his young fans in France


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"As the CEO of Visit Ogden, Sara has worked tirelessly to transform the CVB in Weber County by working with businesses to increase exposure and tourism for Weber County. She shows great passion for Weber County and her work.
Sara has served on the Historic 25th st. Association Board, RAMP Board, Tour of Utah, Ogden School Foundation, GOAL Foundation Board and Junior league of Ogden to name a few. I feel that Sara raises the bar for those around her, and she does it with a smile. She truly loves Ogden and works to make certain that our city is listed in top 10 places to be in articles, social media and news footage.


Located in Salt Lake City, Utah, and assisting individual and business clients throughout Utah and Nevada, ZITER | LAW is a trade name for James C. Ziter, P.C., a multi-disciplinary result-oriented law firm.
Why Should You Retain Our Services?
This firm was founded more than 16 years ago to help clients resolve their legal problems. James Ziter, has a diverse background, including being a successful business owner, a former prosecutor under the senior practice rules in Lincoln, Lancaster County, Nebraska, a real estate licensing instructor ,and a high level tournament tennis and chess player. As an attorney, he has also given seminars to a variety of business organizations and their representatives regarding business transactions and practices. The law firm's services have been sought after by hundreds of business owners in business transaction matters, by buyers, sellers, and contractors in real estate transactions and disputes, including issues involving residential and commercial property, by taxpayers seeking IRS tax resolution, by individuals needing bankruptcy protection, by people that need litigation counsel, and by other lawyers needing advice in areas of our expertise. The firm's founder, James Ziter, has a background in competitive sports, and is a Star Trek fanatic. That background gives him a different perspective for looking at client issues. The focus is on what course of action is in the best interest of the client, rather than the best interest of the law firm. In addition, a 40 year background in competitive chess playing enables him to think strategically, outside the box, to find solutions others may overlook.
Our ability to provide services at a reasonable price is one of the founding principals of the firm, and one of the primary reasons the firm was founded back in 1995. One of our goals was to provide clients with large firm results, with the personal service of a smaller firm. Our use of technology has leveled the field between larger, high-price-tag organizations and this law firm.
We are zealous advocates for our clients. Our firm's success is built on our ability to serve our clients. When we agree to take your case, we give everything we have to achieving a favorable result. We are aggressive in protecting our client's interests, and we place those interests above everything else.
Our clients appreciate our honesty and integrity in providing them with information and our opinion. In some cases, it may not be what they want to hear, but it is information they need to make informed decisions. In addition, our integrity is also known throughout the legal community; other attorneys and judges know we will follow through on our commitments.
One of the secrets of our success is our use of legal information technology which has revolutionized the way attorneys practice law. Every state of the art communication, information, and research technology is available and used in this law practice. This firm's use of technology truly give clients the advantages formerly only enjoyed by large law firms, but with the attention of a more personable law office. Lawyers using technology leverage their efforts to maximum benefit for clients. What used to take a five minute call to the Court, now takes 15 seconds with access to court records. Jobs that used to take runners to the Courthouse now are transformed into secretaries printing documents in minutes. Research libraries that used to be maintained only by large law firms are now available on the internet for knowledgeable practitioners. Our ruthless use of technology makes us distinctly different from most law firms.
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For state of the art legal representation and superior personal service, please schedule a confidential consultation with an experienced attorney by calling us at 801-758-0360 or, if you prefer, you may CLICK TO EMAIL us and a qualified attorney will contact you.


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Backoff Malware Continues To Be A Growing Threat For Retailers
By Brook Zimmatore10/31/2014Internet Security
The malware that has been used multiple times to steal financial data from retail store customers is apparently on the rise.
According to a research from network security firm Damballa, there has been a 57 percent increase between August and September in systems and devices infected with 'Backoff' malware, which scrapes a PC's RAM for left over financial card data after a credit card is swiped.
The firm based its findings on the data gathered from its enterprise customers and ISP, who use its traffic analysis products for detecting malicious activity. About 55 percent internet traffic was detected from North America, which include DNS requests, but the IP addresses of most of the computers were unknown due to privacy reasons.
Backoff has been highlighted because of its significant role in a number of high-profile data breaches last year, including names like Sally Beauty, Target, Home Depot, Neiman Marcus, and recently Kmart.
The US-CERT issued Backoff advisory warning on 31st July, but even with the DHS warning, which included tips on how to mitigate the Backoff malware, Damballa saw that infections rose a further 27 percent from the start until the end of September.
CTO at Damballa Brian Foster stated that too many retailers continue to rely on traditional antivirus technologies to protect POS systems, even though the DHS advisory has suggested a number of additional measures, such as securing the remote desktop apps hackers have been using to spread the malware and configuring firewalls so they accept communications only from known ports and IP addresses.
Therefore, the creators of the malware can make small alterations to its code to bypass traditional antivirus implementations. The researchers at Damball, to prove how simple modification can be for hackers, tested the Sinowal malware against 55 antivirus products and discovered that 45 products detected it with success.
The researches then altered the Sinowal malware to a Windows Help program file, a process that required less than 2 minutes, and found that only one of the AV products could successfully detect a new file.
Foster said the response of the retail industry to Backoff is a worrying sign ahead of the US holiday shopping season, which is the most lucrative period for attackers to target retail companies, just as Target became a victim in 2013.
"Enterprises haven't done a good enough job getting their POS traffic to a central point" where it can be monitored for malicious activity, stated Foster. "I'm sure that by the end of this holiday season, antivirus products will be really good at detecting Backoff, but by then, attackers will have moved on to something else."
What needs to be done?
To starve of the malware, Damballa says companies need to act as if they will be in a continuous state of breach, and make a response strategy accordingly.
"We'd advise enterprises to be prepared, to get ahead by assuming that they will be compromised, and take proactive measures to be ready to remediate," stated Forster.
POS malware often leads to a high ROI for criminals, who can access thousands of credit card records, much higher than hackers could discover on home computers.
"Fundamentally, these figures show that prevention controls cannot stop malware infections," Foster said in a statement. "PoS malware and other advanced threats can, and will, get through."
He continued that organizations need to focus on building better intelligence. Solutions like Massive's Strixus Global can help retailers detect such malware and threats and operations emerging on a daily-basis with real-time actionable attack intelligence. Such solutions enable companies to take proactive actions to protect the POS and other digital infrastructure.
Emails Promising Ebola Virus Information Deliver Malware


In 2016, the European Union passed the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) after deliberating over it for four years. The regulation gave two years for companies to get in compliance, which is typically more than enough time. The reality though is that companies and even regulators are not ready.
The Ponemon Institute surveyed 1,000 companies in April, and over half said they would not be compliant by the deadline.
The General Data Protection Regulation is a set of rules. These rules span from requirements like notifying regulators about data breaches to transparency for users about what data is being collected. They even cover why it needs to be collected. It is a new data protection law in the EU, which came into force Friday, May 25th, 2018.
The goal of GDPR is to give EU citizens control over their personal data and change the data privacy approach of organizations across the world.
The GDPR applies to data collected on EU citizens from anywhere in the world. As such, any website with EU visitors or customers must comply with the GDPR, which means all businesses that want to sell products or services to the European market need to comply.
So what does GDPR entail?
Applies to any personal data that relates to or can be used to identify someone (Art. 4).
Allows a person to request that their personal information about them is completely erased (unless there is a valid reason, such as a bank loan). Also referred to as the right to be forgotten (Art. 17).
Gives a person the right to know what information is being stored about them.
Site and Store Owners have until May 25, 2018, to comply with the regulations set by the GDPR. There are hefty penalties for non-compliance. If you are found non-compliant, you are looking at a fine up to € 20 million, or in the case of an undertaking, up to 4% of the total worldwide annual turnover of the preceding financial year, whichever is higher. High penalty fines have been proposed to try an increase compliance.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lawyer. Please first seek the advice of a lawyer that can help you sort out what you need to do.
WordPress pushed an update, 4.9.6, that gives you many features for starting to get compliant with GDPR. And of course WooCommerce also pushed out a release, 3.4.0 that also gives you many features for getting compliant with GDPR.
Upgrading WordPress (and WooCommerce, if you use it) are some of the first steps you can take, after talking to a lawyer.
Did we mention reaching out to get legal advice?
If you are hosting with Liquid Web, you can check out our article on GDPR that answers some questions as it relates to hosting with Liquid Web.
If the GDPR deadline stressed you out and you waited to figure out what you needed to do, we recommend getting legal advice. Our sense is that every site is unique and has to get its own counsel, but that GDPR will affect about everyone online.


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EXPERT COUNCIL
COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE
STRATEGY. BRANDS. CAPITAL. INNOVATION.
we give emerging businesses the platform to thrive.
As a force for Creative Ventures, we galvanize and expand maverick businesses that are inspiring, purposeful and transformative.
We serve as a catalyst to accelerate growth and wealth creation. To help businesses flourish on every level — from global capital access and business consulting to brand planning, design and innovation. We build holistic organizations from ideation to maturity, to create experiences for our clients that people crave and yearn to build relationships with.
Our expansive wisdom and passion for cultivating businesses grows out of our own experience as founders, inventors, and entrepreneurs of successful organizations. As angels, VCs, funds, operators, strategic planners, creatives, and innovators, we empower companies with high growth potential. We know how to identify limitations and solve challenges through creative business solutions and design thinking. This deep knowledge benefits our clients since we know how to help them become more agile and intelligent, expand their brand equity, enter powerful networks, and understand how to use capital as fuel. We are a bridge into many worlds and believe success is possible with wisdom, openness and the right people in place.
We collaborate with our clients on a host of multi-disciplinary offerings to build businesses that people yearn to experience.
Experience, knowledge, and effective team members are complemented by capital access to achieve a purpose. We believe capital is fuel. But, winning capital can be quite an odyssey. Having the right existing relationships and knowing where to look is more than half the battle.
Powerful ideas are identified by their concise, expert communication and unquestionable need. We also know how to light the way by creating optimal growth and powerful opportunities through our broad network. Truly, great people make great business.
Great storytelling is successful when a solid strategic foundation is in place for all creative content to flourish. Weaving brand planning, writing and design together, we help our clients create consistent, powerful stories that bring brands to life for the long-term and guide them in the short-term.
R. Adam Smith
R. Adam Smith is an experienced investor, advisor, and builder of tens of startup, venture and private equity-backed companies in the U.S., and abroad, since the mid-1990s. Adam is an expert in the branded space with a focus on all matters related to the consumer, including luxury, accessories, retail, apparel, beauty, art and design, digital & media, food & beverages, wellness, real estate and wealth management. Through private equity partnerships he has led and/or sponsored since 2002, Adam has invested in over a dozen privately-held companies (including seven acquisitions) with a combined $600 million in sales and over $250 million of contributed equity invested capital, while also forming and serving on the Board of Directors, or Advisory Boards, of each company.
In 2002, Adam founded Circle Peak Capital LLC, a private investment merchant banking partnership based in NYC he still manages today and which has served tens of limited partners with over $50 million of invested capital. Earlier in his career, Adam served as a principal at two leading private equity firms based in New York City, Caxton-Iseman Capital, an affiliate of Caxton Associates, one of the world's legendary alternative investment organizations (founded 1993), and Castle Harlan, Inc. (founded 1987) each holding over $2 billion in aggregate managed equity capital. Adam was the first employee and instrumental in the success of a global emerging markets (half a billion) dollar hedge fund formed in 1996, Columbus Advisors LLC by the heads of Merrill Lynch emerging markets. Adam started his career on Wall Street in 1993, holding positions at top firms including Salomon Brothers Inc., J.P. Morgan, and Lehman Brothers Inc. After Salomon Brothers, Adam earned an MBA in 1998 with high honors (Beta Gamma Sigma) from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University (CBSGSB), and a BA cum laude in International Relations and Economics from Boston University.
Adam is an active alumnus of CBSGSB, a founding board member of the CBSGSB Private Equity Advisory Board, and a founder in 1996 of the school's now legendary Investment Management Conference. In addition to his role as Founder and CEO of his three primary holdings, Circle Peak Capital LLC, Big Sky Partners LLC, and Family Office Private Advisors LLC, Adam is involved in several companies, including a special advisor to Rocket Dog Holdings LLC (since 2006), Stride Capital LLC (since 2010), and was recently appointed to the Advisory Board of the NY Tech Fashion Lab, a collaboration with the Partnership Fund for New York City and leading fashion organizations.
Adam is married with two boys, and is active in the arts, design, and is an avid collector. Adam has been a host, patron and / or sponsor of numerous arts related events including the International Fine Art and Antique Show, Weill Carnegie Recital Hall, The Avenue Show, and has been an amateur classical pianist since the age of 5. Adam is an active philanthropist, active in the Museum of Arts and Design, Tanenbaum Center, Leukemia Fighters at Weill Cornell College, and recently joined the Board of Directors of the Original Music Workshop (National Sawdust) in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
-Niccolò Machiavelli
Steven Baillie
International Creative, Branding & Disruptive Retail
Steven Baillie is a multifaceted creative director who excels both in building inspiring brands from the ground-up and in shepherding established brands into new territories. He has a proven track record for creating and executing 360º brand strategies, concepts, campaign themes and brand visualizations that increased profitability.
Over the last decade he has risen through the ranks to become the go-to guy for fashion brands looking for edge and impact in their advertising campaigns. Baillie was one of the key figures behind transforming Target from a dowdy Midwestern discount retailer into one of the world's most iconic brands. He also played a pivotal role helping entrepreneur Andy Dunn build the influential brand Bonobos. He helped develop a variety of permanent and temporary retail concepts called "GuideShops", supplementing the online business with a concept that requires no inventory. This approach generated sales productivity per square foot on par with best-in-class retailers like Michael Kors and influenced major brands to rethink retail.
Bringing a diverse range of influences to his work, from hip-hop's streetwise irreverence to the elegant minimalism of mid-20th century Swiss graphic design, Baillie has never failed to create work in which the interplay of form and function exist in perfect balance. He has subsequently produced creative work for a wide variety of clients earning his slot as one world's the most influential international creative directors.
Ken Pilot
Retail, E-Commerce & Business Development
Ken Pilot, currently President at abc carpet & home, has over 30 years of retail experience. He began as a trainee in the Macy's executive training program in NYC. Ken spent just over 5 years with Macy's, experiencing both store and buying line positions. Leaving Macy's, Ken moved to the west coast to join Gap Inc. Over a 13 year period, Ken launched the Outlet division, was President of Gap International and ultimately President of Gap Brand Global. After 13 years with Gap Inc., Ken moved back to New York to take on the helm at J.Crew. His stint as CEO of J.Crew was short lived as he left the company when TPG brought industry veteran Mickey Drexler on as Chairman of the Board. Over the five years that followed J.Crew, Ken held various C-level positions with Ralph Lauren, American Eagle as well as leading a start-up, Robot Galaxy. In 2010, Ken filled his current position with abc. He is actively involved in new business development, B2B, ecommerce and advancing the company's technology platform. Ken is also a board member at Alternative Apparel.
Ken resides in NYC, with his wife and three children.
Christian Leone
Luxury Lifestyle, Global Designer Relations & Retail PR
Christian Leone, has worked in the luxury lifestyle space for over 20 years. Currently, Leone is the Vice President, Corporate Communications & Global Designer Relations/Brand Management of WME/IMG as a proven global leader across all public relations and corporate communications areas including strategy development and planning, consumer and retail PR, business and financial communications, executive positioning and internal communications, crisis communications and issues management, and public/community affairs. In May 2012, Leone launched Vaunte, an online editorial fashion website, celebrating the stylish set, innovating charity, and being socially responsible (recycling amazing closets). Leone was an early member of Gilt Groupe's Executive Team (#30). During his four years at Gilt, he held the dual titles of Vice President of Marketing and Communications and Brand Relations. He accordingly insured the development of the brand across print, visual, and online media; produced special events; garnered worldwide press and recognition for the company. Prior to Gilt, Christian was Vice President of Communications at Giorgio Armani and worked in communications for a variety of high-end fashion companies including Salvatore Ferragamo, Halston, and the AEFFE Group (Alberta Ferretti, Moschino, Jean Paul Gaultier, Pollini, and Narciso Rodriguez). Leone received a BAS from St. Lawrence University and is on the Board of the New York Botanical Garden, Chicago Botanic Garden and Museum of the City of New York.
Retail, Apparel & Luxury
Excellence is the sole caliber to expect, accept and achieve. Such is the philosophy of William Smith. Bill is the Founder and Managing Partner of Global Reach Capital, a private equity and venture capital firm, specializing in investments in consumer and retail. Bill's success as an investor comes from the merging of knowledge and networks. His acute understanding of business comes from over 30 years of experience. He applies this wealth of knowledge to every venture, to mobilize unprecedented growth for a company. He has been one of the leading investment bankers focused exclusively on the consumer products and retail industry over the past 20 years. Over the course of his career, Mr. Smith has advised hundreds of apparel, retail, and consumer products companies on general strategic initiatives, M&A strategy, and capital structure. He has structured and executed hundreds of transactions exceeding $10 billion in total transaction size.
Prior to forming Global Reach, Mr. Smith was the President of Financo, Inc., an investment bank specializing in the consumer sector. Previously, Mr. Smith was a Managing Director at Kidder Peabody heading up the retail and consumer group. Mr. Smith has invested in and advised companies including Revlon, Coty, L'Oreal, Spyder, Tommy Bahama, Jones Apparel, Tory Burch, Jack Rogers, Soludos, VF Corp., Nautica, Gap, American Eagle, Tumi, CompUSA, Foot Locker, Ellen Tracy, Gloria Vanderbilt, The Container Store, Lanvin, and Yue Sai Kan. Mr. Smith earned a BS from University of North Carolina and an MBA from Harvard University.
Rob Wallace
Brand & Packaging Strategy
Rob Wallace is a Leader in the Branding Thought industry. Mr. Wallace has over thirty years of expertise in transforming a general design firm into one of the industry's most recognized and respected global strategic brand identity firms. Mr. Wallace has shared P&L responsibility and managed growth from less than $3M at 7% profit to up to +$11M at 27% EBITDA. Mitigated risk by spreading income from 70% from 3 clients to no more than 15% of revenue coming from any one client with 40+ active assignments at any given time.
Mr. Wallace fostered the culture of the company based on a simple and effective philosophy: find those who work more for love than for money. He grew the company from 15 to 53 across three offices. Managed both growth and right-sizing transitions while retaining a culture that employees (and clients) refer to as the "Wallace Church family". He recruits and retains talented professionals who do more for the team than themselves, honoring the company's ethos, more for love than money.
Mr. Wallace is also an innovative process developer. He developed and leads the brand strategy practice including trend analytics, consumer ethnography, insight-driven brand ideation, visual brand essence/ViBETM, brand naming, brand architecture planning, package structure design, global brand expansion and message integration across all consumer touch points.
Due to his wealth of experience, Mr. Wallace has honed an astute sensibility for curating a diversified client base, from exclusively food and HBA to recent and relevant expertise in virtually every fmcpg category including prestige, Rx/OTC, private retail brands, tech, hard goods, spirits, wine, beer, home goods, and more. Mr. Wallace has initiated and maintained long term client partnerships with Procter & Gamble, Pepsico, Unilever, Bayer, Nestle, Revlon, Heinz, Pfizer, Dell, Target, The Home Depot, Johnson & Johnson, Bacardi, E&J Gallo, Mattel, Coca-Cola, MillerCoors , Kroger, Kimberly Clark, Kraft, Newell Rubbermaid, Enfa and more than three dozen national/global brands of equal caliber. Brand identity developer for over a dozen billiondollar global brands.
An industry advocate, Mr. Wallace is the industry's primary spokesperson for quantifying design's ROI and hyper customization in branding. He is on the Board of Directors at The Design Management Institute. He is also the Co-Chair of The Design Value Project, and a Keynote speaker at 40+ industry events across the US, Europe, Latin America and Asia. He is the Co-Author of "Really Good Packaging Explained", a Contributing Author for "Build Your Own Brand", a Mentor and lecturer at Columbia Business School, the SVA Masters in Branding Program, Georgetown, University of Texas and other MBA programs.
Above all, Mr. Wallace is a passionate Change Agent. His mission is to change fee-based brand consulting into to a value-based partnership where consultants are paid based on the ROI they generate. Those consultancies will train clients to become more design literate, make more objective, strategic decisions and optimize efficiency. Consequently, better, more sales-effective design will result, and both design and design thinking's role will be elevated in the brand building process as the cornerstone of an integrated brand communications architecture.
Susan Rerat
International Luxury, Media & Startups
Susan is an independent advisor providing strategic insight to PE investors, digital startups and luxury brands. Her wide range of general management experience includes the successful launch of Russian Vogue & GQ; creating a new digital app and business division for Vera Wang; starting Headline Studio, Advance Local's in-house content marketing agency; managing editorial, tech and selling operations for the relaunch of major Conde Nast properties (Brides, Epicurious, Concierge, Bon Appetit); and the venture-backed startup of Meigher Communications (Garden Design). Susan has been part of the transformation of the media landscape for luxury brands from Anna Wintour's reinvention of House & Garden, to the evolution of mobile, programmatic and RTB/private exchange platforms. Throughout her career, Susan's focus has been on driving creative excellence across all functional disciplines, building high performance teams and delivering bottom line results.
Chris Del Gatto
Luxury, Jewelry, & eCommerce
A pioneer for luxury market growth, specifically in the secondary marketplace, and with over 20 years of experience in the fine diamond and jewelry field, DEL GATTO Founder, Chris Del Gatto, is widely regarded as one of the most important innovators in the modern jewelry industry. Having been raised in New York's garment district, Chris's innate love of aesthetics led him to become a licensed gemologist of the Gemological Institute of America by 17, a diamond cutter in Manhattan's Diamond District by 18, and a partner in a diamond-cutting facility by 20. In 2001 while serving as partner of MRH Estate & Fine Jewelry, Chris discovered a void in the marketplace for a global supply chain of second hand (recycled) jewelry or diamonds. In short order, Chris launched CIRCA, the first luxury brand on the BUY SIDE of the jewelry industry. The company offered its clients an elegant service through which they could sell their old or unwanted diamonds and jewelry. The driving force behind CIRCA's rapid growth, Chris served as Chairman & CEO of the company from 2001 until 2012. Although still a major shareholder, Chris left CIRCA in 2013 to pursue his dream of both building a portfolio of luxury brands, as well as creating a true 21st century version of what he'd previously built at CIRCA. After merging with I Do Now I Don't in 2015, Chris launched his latest company, the eponymous "DEL GATTO", where he currently serves as Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO.
Brand Voice Pioneer, Global Branding & Professional Sports Branding
Over the past four decades, Alan Siegel has become one of the best-known figures in the branding business. He has achieved the stature of both pillar of the establishment and provocative iconoclast, while building a leading brand consultancy, Siegel+ Gale, devoted to positioning global companies for competitive success. As consultant, author and commentator, Alan's influence extends to advising such diverse organizations as Xerox, American Express, the National Basketball Association, Caterpillar, the Girl Scouts and Carnegie Mellon University; creating guides for The Wall Street Journal on understanding financial markets and serving on the boards of numerous business and cultural organizations.
Alan pioneered the practice of simplification, bringing clarity to such daunting documents as insurance policies, bank loan notes, mutual fund prospectuses and all types of government communications, including the 1040EZ tax form. Alan's latest book, Simple: Conquering the Crisis of Complexity (Hachette), which he co-wrote with longtime colleague Irene Etzkorn, was released in April of 2013 to critical acclaim.
During the 1980s, Alan popularized the concept of "brand voice" and in the 1990s his firm championed the Internet as a powerful expression of brand strategy. In all he does, Alan is known for the plain speaking he demands of clients and for the excellence in individual and organizational communications that his own firm has come to embody.
In 2011, Alan founded Siegelvision, a company committed to helping organizations driven by a passion for making a difference. Drawing on small teams of experienced, handpicked talent, Siegelvision develops distinctive brand identity programs for clients seeking to make their social purpose a reality. Current clients include NPR, the National Geographic Society, College Board, Lupus Foundation of America, the Urban Institute, Cornell College of Engineering, New York University, MIT Sloan School of Management, Easterseals, Teach for America, City University of New York and KinderCare.
Of special note is Alan's focus on law and justice. In the 1970s he developed a groundbreaking writing course for lawyers, Writing Contracts in Plain English, at Fordham University School of Law where he was on the adjunct faculty for 10 years. Alan served on the executive committee of the Document Design Project, which was funded by the National Institute of Education, where he worked on simplifying federal government regulations.
Alan developed a brand identity program for the Legal Aid Society, where he served on the Board of Directors. Working with Jeremy Travis, the dynamic President of John Jay College of Criminal Justice and chair of the Committee on Causes and Consequences of High Rates of Incarceration (National Research Council of the National Academies), Alan developed the "Fierce Advocates for Justice" identity to change the perception of John Jay as a "cop college" to a preparer of fervent, liberally educated professionals in forensics, law and law enforcement, social science and academia. John Jay honored Alan by creating the Alan Siegel Writing Center to help all matriculated students become more effective writers.
Alan has a passion for helping educational institutions articulate their vision, develop a distinctive identity and attract top-flight faculty and students. He served as adjunct associate professor at Carnegie Mellon University, where he conducted research and was the founder and co-director of a popular graduate program, The Communications Design Center. When Bob Kerrey was President of The New School, Alan created its brand identity program, headed up the Business Advisory Board for the New Media program and was interim director of the data visualization center. For six years Alan served as the president of the Advisory Council for the College of Art, Architecture and Planning at Cornell University.
A graduate of Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations, Alan also attended New York University School of Law, the School of Visual Arts and Alexei Brodovich's Design Laboratory.
Matt Sherman
Wellness, CPG, & Beauty
Matt Sherman is the Senior Director of Brand Marketing at Chobani. He is responsible for all aspects of marketing on the core Chobani business, as well as media planning, and emerging platform and channel development. In his role, he works closely with the brand communications and social strategy team, Chobani's internal and external creative teams and the product development teams to deliver on Chobani's mission of better food for more people.
Prior to joining Chobani in January 2014, Matt served as the Director of Marketing for glacéau smartwater at The Coca-Cola Company where he was responsible for the development of all marketing and advertising activities. Matt also spent nearly six years at L'Oreal USA as a marketer on a variety of brands, including Garnier, Matrix, and Kerastase. He has worked in a variety of sales channels – direct, distributor, and mass – and is adept at building business and messaging across a variety of constituents. Matt is passionate about brands that have deep meaning, personality and honesty and share his commitment to doing well by doing good.
Matt graduated from the University of Michigan with an MBA/MPP and holds his BA from Washington University in St. Louis. While he grew up in Washington, D.C. and owes his education to the Midwest, Matt has spent the past 10 years in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter.
Gary Shinner
Tea, Health & Sustainability
Gary began business life as an investment banker and over time he developed an affinity for consumer brands. In a zig zag of fortuitous events Gary discovered the opportunities and his passion in the premium tea category. Mighty Leaf Tea born.
Mighty Leaf is now recognized as the brand that disrupts the paradigm on how the world drinks tea today, creating products driven by innovative quality, design, and sustainability. The company launched as a tea house in San Francisco in 1996, with the mission of infusing rejuvenating life into an ancient beverage and ritual, and grew to become the leading global specialty tea brand in foodservice and retail being sold in 30,000 restaurants and 14,000 stores world wide. A pinnacle was achieved in August 2014 when Mighty Leaf was acquired by Joh. A Benckiser/Peets Coffee.
Gary's creative inspiration and vision is in building great craft brands and has recently launched TeaWorks Collective, an incubator company designed to concept, seed and support premium CPG companies in the health, wellness and luxury sectors.
In his personal life, Gary's passions include fitness, meditation, design, all things artistically authentic, and off the path travel. Gary, along with wife Jill, daughters Julia and Caroline and 2 dogs (Golden Will & English Springer Jack) reside in Marin County, California.
David Greenstein
Consumer Products & Branding
Mr. Greenstein is reputed as one of the consumer products industries' leaders, with particular expertise in both the textile and apparel fields. He is also an accomplished operator with over 30 years experience, the last 15 years in an executive CEO role. In these roles David has mastered the balance of the day-to-day rigors of running big business, with the need for creativity, and leadership.
Among Mr. Greenstein's many achievements is the founding, building and eventual sale of Homestead to Li &Fung, The rebranding of London Fog and its sales to Iconix, and the rebranding of Pacific trail and its successful sale to Columbia.
Mr. Greenstein possesses particular acumen in turnaround, rebranding and product ideation. Among his accomplishments are the successful repositioning of both the Royal Velvet and Cannon brands and their proprietary placements at big box retailers.
After having run the home division of Li &Fung in the US, Mr. Greenstein now is the CEO of Himatsingka America, one of the US's largest wholesaler of home textiles, where he oversees the brand efforts for Calvin Klein, Kate Spade, Barbara Barry, Bellora, Desigual, and Kelly Weartsler.
Mr. Greenstein has an strong and enduring relationship with the senior management at most of the world's largest retailers, where he enjoys a hard earned reputation as a highly creative supplier, with an excellent track record for brand building and operational excellence.
Big Sky Partners Expands Unique Consulting Platform to Accelerate Brands, Empower Founders, and Provide Investments
"I founded Big Sky Partners in response to tremendous demand by emerging companies and their investors for creative, nimble solutions to bridge a divide between creativity and capital," said Smith, chief executive officer of Big Sky Partners. "Fast-growing companies are facing a hyper-competitive environment for financial resources, market share and brand recognition, and Big Sky's distinct platform provides a holistic solution with global reach."
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text:
נשמת
מדרשה גבוהה ללימודי תורה לנשים
על שם ג'יני שוטנשטיין
ועד ההנהלה
נשמת בקהילה
תוכניות לימוד ופרוייקטים
שיעור א'
שיעור המשך
מעיין א'
מעיין המשך
מדרשת מסע
קרן אריאל
תוכניות לבנות חו"ל
מה חדש בנשמת?
תורה ברשת
בית מדרש חברתי
חיפוש במאגר
בוגרות
תוכנית בוגרות
חבורה בתנ"ך עם הרב סבתו
תירמו
תשלומים ותרומות
הקדשת לימוד
תרומות באמצעות הו"ק
השיעור הועבר ע"י הרב יהודה הנקין
שיעורים נוספים של המרצה ניתן למצוא כאן
The key source for Rosh Hashanah as a day of judgment is found in the Book of Psalms, chapter 81:3-4. "Blow the shofar on the [new] month, at the appointed time (1) for our holiday. For it is a chok for Israel, a mishpat for the G-d of Jacob." Chok is a decree beyond our understanding, while mishpat is a rational ordinance. To Israel, G-d's judgment appears to be an unfathomable chok, but to the G-d of Jacob it is a fully understood mishpat.(2)
Alternatively, the verses refer to two separate judgments, both of which are rendered on Rosh Hashanah. One is "for Israel" in this world, a judgement which will be made known to everyone through the events of the coming year. The other is "for the G-d of Jacob" in the next, known only to G-d until a man dies and is judged for the world to come.
How are we to view G-d's judgement in this world? Life was once nasty, brutish, and short; the average adult lived only thirty or forty years, and feared G-d because he feared death. Today, death seems remote. We expect to live over seventy years, and longevity seems a function of modern medicine rather than of Divine decree.
Certainly, as the Talmud states, an individual's fate in this world is not necessarily dependent on his sin or merit.(3) But denying concern for our collective future is to be historical blindness. Our century has seen two cataclysmic conflicts and we live under threat, if not of a third world war, then of devastation by rogue atomic, biological, or chemical attack, by drug-resistant plagues or chance asteroid. That society can return to darkness is an unpopular thought for those who forget that the Dark Ages resulted from the decline of Rome's great civilization. Human history is cyclical; since the Flood, great nations have risen and fallen, dragging the innocent down with them.
On Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur we recite: "This is a generation of those who look for Him; seekers of Your face, selah" (Psalms 24:6). How I envy King David, who sang these words! Would that we could say of our generation what he said of his.
My wife recalls her sixth-grade teacher noting that in the previous generation, people actually cried in the synagogue on Yom Kippur. She was stunned. In her synagogue, people still cried every year, and it had never occurred to her that other synagogues were different.
Devotion is often replaced today by nostalgia for parents and childhood, by the conviction that the best way to raise children is through religion, or by community or national affiliation. Missing is the immediacy of standing before G-d, of feeling immeasurably small before the Creator.
In the imagery of the Days of Awe, G-d opens his records on Rosh Hashanah. The Talmud relates that there are three groups of people: "The clearly righteous are immediately inscribed and sealed in the book of life. The patently wicked are immediately inscribed and sealed in the book of death. Those in-between remain suspended until Yom Kippur: if they prove meritorious they are inscribed for life; if not, they are inscribed for death."(4) The Jerusalem Talmud explains that one "proves meritorious" by means of teshuvah, repentance.(5)
Yet for those who have not done teshuvah, nothing has changed! They are still in-between, neither righteous or wicked. Why are they inscribed for death?
During the Ten Days of Repentance beginning on Rosh Hashanah and culminating in Yom Kippur, when the calendar and the entire community focus on prayer and repentance, indifference to teshuvah is not neutral. At such a time, refraining from repentance itself is incriminating enough to tip the scales.
Note, however, that according to the Talmud only the clearly righteous and the patently wicked are inscribed and sealed. Those in-between who do not repent by Yom Kippur are inscribed for death, but they are not sealed. G-d awaits their repentance at all times. May we merit that our teshuvah breaks the cycle of history and hastens the coming of the Messiah.
1. Per Rashi, ad loc. Another reading is "during the concealment," (i.e., of the moon) at the beginning of the month; see BT Rosh Hashanah 8a.
2. See Kedoshim, above, pp. XX.
3. BT Yoma 39b
4. BT Rosh Hashanah 16b.
5. JT Rosh Hashanah 1:3
שיעורים נוספים ניתן למצוא בקטגוריות הבאות: הימים הנוראים
תאריך העלאה: ט׳ בטבת ה׳תשע״ג
שיעורי הרב איתם הנקין הי"ד
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